^^'^'^^?>^ 


V 


BR  115  .C5  F7  1921 
Frazer,  John  William. 
The  untried  civilization 


THE  UNTRIED 
CIVILIZATION 


By    / 

JOHN  WILLIAM  FRAZER 


THE  ABINGDON  PRESS 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


Copyright,  1921,  by 
JOHN  WILLIAM  FRAZER 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


To  MY  Father 

The  Rev.  John  Stanley  Frazer,  D.D. 

this     little    volume     is 

affectionately  inscribed 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTBB  PAGE 

Note 7 

Introduction 9 

I.  The  Meaning  of  Civilization 13 

II.  What  Is  Modern  Civilization? 29 

III .  The  Temper  of  the  Times 45 

IV.  A   Definite  Type  Inevitable 57 

V .  Is  Christian  Civilization  Practical  ?  73 

VI .  Christianity  the  Way  of  Progress  .  100 

VII.  The  Divine  Right  of  the  Church  . .  118 


NOTE 

I  "WISH  to  express  my  gratitude  to  Dr. 
Joseph  Fort  Newton,  minister  of  the  Church 
of  The  Divine  Paternity,  New  York  City, 
for  his  kind  words  of  introduction;  to  Dr. 
Guy  E.  Snavley,  of  Birmingham- Southern 
College,  for  his  practical  helpfulness ;  and  to 
The  Fleming  H.  Revell  Publishing  Com- 
pany for  permission  to  use  quotations  from 
their  publications. 

J.  W.  F. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  thesis  of  these  essays  is  that  Chris- 
tianity, so  far  from  being  merely  a  private 
mysticism,  is  at  once  a  plan  and  a  power  for 
the  salvation  of  humanity  aUke  from  in- 
dividual sin  and  social  chaos.  The  com- 
munal redemption  of  mankind — nothing 
else  or  less — was  the  vision  in  the  mind  of 
Jesus,  and  the  world  to-day,  well-nigh 
bankrupt,  will  never  be  solvent  until  it  has 
the  wisdom  and  courage  to  make  trial  of  his 
leadership. 

Either  Jesus  was  a  dreamer  of  impos- 
sible dreams  or  he  saw  straight;  and  if  his 
vision  was  vaHd,  to  reject  Christianity  as 
the  public  poHcy  of  the  world  means  that  the 
race  will  drift  from  one  disaster  to  another. 
It  serves  no  good  purpose  to  call  him  "Lord, 
Lord,"  if  we  do  not,  or  cannot,  obey  his 
commands.  It  is  admited  that  Christianity 
is  difficult,  but  not  more  difficult  than  the 
present  pohcy  of  the  world.  It  is,  in  fact, 
an  Untried  Civihzation,  and  since  no  one 

9 


INTRODUCTION 

can  say  that  our  present  civilization  is  a  suc- 
cess, it  is  time  to  consider  whether  or  not 
Jesus  was  right;  and  if  so,  whether  we  can 
translate  his  proposal  into  reahty. 

As  such  these  essays — more  suggestive 
than  exhaustive,  and  as  lucid  in  style  as  they 
are  thoughtful  in  treatment — are  a  token  of 
the  times,  as  showing  the  increasing  em- 
phasis upon  the  gospel  of  the  Kingdom,  the 
discovery  of  which  was  a  trophy  of  the  Great 
War.  They  are  an  example  of  the  reverent 
and  clear-sighted  thinking  of  a  large  and 
gallant  company  of  young  preachers  in  all 
communions,  who  are  beginning  to  see  what 
Jesus  actually  meant,  and  are  resolved  to 
preach  his  larger  gospel  with  gentle  but 
relentless  insistence  in  the  days  that  lie 
ahead. 

Of  old,  in  the  gloaming  of  the  day,  the 
risen  Christ  "made  as  though  he  would  have 
gone  further,"  but  his  disciples  were  too  sad- 
hearted  to  follow.  Once  again,  in  our 
troubled  day,  two  ways  are  set  before  us: 
either  we  must  follow  Jesus  in  his  divine 
adventure  or  turn  away  from  him.  Both 
ways  are  difficult,  but  one  is  hopeless;  and 
10 


INTRODUCTION 

the  author  bids  us  accept  the  call  of  Christ 
as  a  challenge  to  the  insight  and  heroism  of 
Christian  faith  and  enterprise. 

Joseph  Fort  Newton. 
New  York  City. 


11 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  MEANING  OF  CIVILIZATION 

Words  gather  about  themselves  various 
meanings.  Civilization  is  a  term  of  elastic 
variability.  It  has  at  least  three  distinct 
historical  meanings.  When  the  idea  of  cul- 
ture is  lengthened  to  cover  a  considerable 
period  of  time,  or  broadened  to  include  a 
large  social  unit,  it  is  expressed  by  the  word 
civilization.  In  this  sense  the  word  "civ- 
ilization" is  simply  the  expansion  of  the  idea 
of  culture.  Thus  we  speak  of  a  community, 
a  nation,  or  an  age  as  being  civilized.  Man 
reacting  upon  his  environment  has  pro- 
duced tremendous  results — houses,  machin- 
ery, governments,  social  institutions,  sci- 
ence, hterature,  philosophy,  religion.  This 
mighty  and  ever-increasing  result  we  ex- 
press by  the  term  "civihzation."  This  is 
the  most  comprehensive  use  of  the  term.  As 
such  it  is  a  vast  linguistic  storehouse  into 
which  have  been  poured  the  wealth  and  the 
13 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

rubbish,  the  trash  and  the  treasures  of  all 
ages.  The  sense  in  which  the  word  shall  be 
used  in  this  discussion  is  a  third,  and  perhaps 
its  most  common  use.  By  civilization,  in 
this  use,  is  meant  the  dominant  ideal  or  char- 
acteristic of  an  age  or  a  people.  If  this  use 
of  the  term  is  more  restricted  than  the  others, 
it  is  also  more  definite  and  workable.  By  the 
civilization  of  an  age  is  here  meant  its  chief 
quality,  that  which  molds  it  into  a  type  of 
hfe. 

History  devotes  the  major  part  of  its  at- 
tention to  three  distinct  and  unique  types  of 
civilization:  those  of  ancient  Greece,  Rome, 
and  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth.  These  na- 
tions are  the  most  conspicuous  examples 
of  the  types  which  they  represent.  The 
Golden  Age  of  Greece  was  the  most  aesthetic 
and  intellectual  period  of  human  history. 
Art,  poetry,  philosophy  were  its  grand 
achievements.  The  artistic  structure  of 
Hellenistic  culture  was  fashioned  on  the 
ideal  of  intellectual  beauty.  Quinet,  in  his 
Genie  des  Religions,  says  that  the  Homeric 
poems  became  "the  Book  of  the  Law  for  the 
Hellenic  peoples,  so  that  Homer  became  for 
14 


MEANING  OF  CIVILIZATION 

them  what  Moses  was  to  the  Hebrews. 
Never  again  shall  we  see  a  society  regulated 
on  the  plan  of  an  epic  .  .  .  Greek  society,  in 
fact,  tended  by  constant  approximation  to 
form  itself  on  the  ideal  of  the  IHad  and  the 
Odyssey  .  .  .  Greece  was  not  untrue  to  the 
image  that  had  thus  been  revealed  to  her; 
on  the  contrary,  she  made  of  the  poem  a 
truth,  of  fiction  a  reality."  This  age  of  hi- 
tellectual  power  and  wondrous  beauty  gave 
to  the  world  a  hterature  which  has  been 
the  inspiration  of  all  subsequent  literary 
achievements,  a  philosophy  which  furnished 
hypotheses  to  all  later  philosophic  specula- 
tion, a  language  which  is  still  the  most  per- 
fect flower  of  human  speech  and  the  most 
flexible  medium  of  human  thought. 

The  conspicuous  element  in  Roman  civil- 
ization was  political  majesty.  It  was  not 
colossal  barbarism  hiding  its  massive  figure 
under  the  purple  robe  of  luxury.  The  civ- 
ihzation  of  the  Roman  world  was  as  thor- 
oughgoing as  it  was  imposing.  Its  ideal  was 
the  domination  of  the  world,  not  merely  by 
force  of  arms,  but  by  the  superiority  of 
Roman  poHtical  science.    Roman  civilization 

15 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

typified  its  matchless  genius  for  govern- 
ment. Over  the  vast  domains  inhabited  by 
subject  peoples,  the  strong  arm  of  Roman 
authority  maintained  peace  and  order,  a 
peace  which  though  secure  was  rarely  op- 
pressive, an  order  which  though  imperious 
was  usually  tolerant.  Citizenship  under 
Rome  carried  with  it  both  protection  and 
dignity.  The  Roman  scourge  could  not  be 
laid  on  the  back  of  a  Roman  citizen.  In 
Jerusalem  when  the  magistrates  *'had  laid 
many  stripes"  upon  Paul  and  Silas,  Paul 
complained  to  the  keeper  of  the  prison  that 
they  had  been  illegally  punished:  "They 
have  beaten  us  openly  uncondemned,  being 
Romans."  Justice  for  the  Roman  prisoner 
was  furthered  by  a  provision  which  allowed 
him  a  "final  appeal"  to  Cassar.  Roman 
civilization  was  preeminently  executive,  leg- 
islative, and  judicial.  The  civilization  of 
ancient  Rome  was  the  embodiment  of  the 
majesty  of  law. 

The  ancient  Hebrews  present  a  civiliza- 
tion as  distinct  as  it  was  exceptional.     The 
Jewish  ideal  of  civilization  was  a  race  gov- 
erned directly  by  Jehovah.    The  attribute 
16 


MEANING  OF  CIVILIZATION 

of  Jehovah  which  chiefly  impressed  them 
was  his  hohness.  To  maintain  uninterrupted 
communion  with  Jehovah  the  people  were 
taught  to  emulate  his  holiness.  To  the  de- 
gree that  they  succeeded  would  they  receive 
counsel  and  protection  from  Jehovah,  and 
so  fulfill  their  national  destiny,  a  destiny 
to  which  Providence  had  ordained  them. 
They  were  an  "elect  people,"  whose  motto 
was  "Holiness  unto  the  Lord."  The  most 
direful  calamity  would  be  for  Jehovah 
to  "hide  his  face  from  them."  In  every  ad- 
versity— defeat  in  battle,  pestilence,  drought 
— was  seen  the  frown  of  their  Deity,  a  frown 
in  which  they  saw  reflected  their  own  short- 
comings. Never  was  there  a  race  to  whom 
religion  was  so  objectively  realistic,  who  were 
so  conscious  of  the  presence  of  God,  and  who 
sought  so  earnestly  to  understand  and  obey 
the  divine  will.  Hebrew  civilization  was  an- 
cient man's  most  serious  and  morally  suc- 
cessful attempt  to  interpret  his  relation  to 
his  Creator.  With  the  Jewish  people  the 
ideal  of  greatness  was  Godlikeness.  Their 
greatest  achievements  were  religious 
achievements,  their  greatest  men  were  their 
17 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

religious  leaders,  the  center  of  their  national 
life  was  the  temple.  It  is  not  a  miracle, 
therefore,  that  Hebrew  civilization  was  the 
fountain  head  from  which  have  flowed  the 
strongest  and  purest  streams  of  rehgious 
inspiration  which  have  blessed  the  world. 
There  is  no  marvel  in  the  fact  that  a  people 
bent  on  learning  the  reahties  of  life  should 
be  the  discoverers  of  a  moral  realm  into 
which  other  people  had  never  penetrated, 
and  should  transmit  to  the  future  a  code  of 
morals  which  is  the  basis  of  the  race's  highest 
ethics.  Why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing 
incredible  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  Jew? 
What  wonder  that  out  of  the  soil  from  which 
sprang  the  spiritual  giants  of  the  world 
in  the  fullness  of  time  God  should  more  com- 
pletely reveal  himself  in  a  member  of  their 
race  ?  The  characteristic  of  Hebrew  civiliza- 
tion was  a  genius  for  religion. 

In  Palestine,  Greece,  and  Rome  devel- 
oped the  civilizations  which  are  the  distinct 
and  representative  achievements  of  the  hu- 
man race,  distinct  in  that  each  became  a  type, 
representative  in  that  all  ideas  which  other 
races  present  are  included  in  one  or  the  other 
18 


MEANING  OF  CIVILIZATION 

of  these  great  historical  civihzations.  Each 
antecedent  or  subsequent  historical  civiliza- 
tion has  been  an  approach  or  a  reproduc- 
tion of  the  Hebrew,  Grecian,  or  Roman 
ideal.  All  that  was  of  real  worth  in  the 
ancient  Sumerian  and  Babylonian  civil- 
izations was  included  and  purified  in 
Hebrew  history.  The  religious  traditions 
and  moral  discoveries  of  those  ancient 
peoples,  instead  of  being  lost  as  their 
historical  epochs  came  to  an  end,  were  ap- 
propriated and  developed  by  the  Jewish 
people.  Stories  like  the  Fall  of  Man,  The 
Flood,  the  Tower  of  Babel — ancient  man's 
explanations  of  his  relation  to  the  universe 
— became  lessons  of  great  spiritual  worth 
when  interpreted  in  the  light  of  Hebrew 
idealism.  Moral  achievements  like  the  Code 
of  Hammurabi  were  transformed  into  finer 
standards  of  conduct  after  being  purified  by 
the  white  flame  of  Hebrew  ethics  and  shaped 
into  the  Decalogue  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Religious  institutions,  subsequent  to  He- 
brew national  life,  which  grew  about  pure 
ethical  ideals,  like  the  social  hfe  of  the  Es- 
senes  of  the  first  century  and  the  Puritan 
19 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

movement  of  the  seventeenth  century,  were 
the  reappearance  upon  the  surface  of  history 
of  the  clear  stream  of  old  Hebrew  morahty. 
The  splendor  of  Hebrew  civilization  was  the 
white  gleaming  light  of  pure  morality,  a 
morality  whose  fundamental  precept  was, 
"Thou  shalt  not  be  defiled."  If  it  was  moral 
isolation,  it  was  at  the  same  time  moral 
sanitation. 

Hellenistic  culture  is  at  once  the  climax 
and  inspiration  of  the  artistic  and  intellec- 
tual ideal  of  civilization.  The  intellectual 
activity  of  the  pre-Grecian  world  was  never 
powerful  enough  to  shape  any  era  into  a 
predominantly  intellectual  age.  Likewise, 
the  intellectual  movement  which  followed  the 
Golden  Age  of  Greece  received  its  impulse 
from  Hellenistic  learning.  The  Renaissance 
was  the  effort  to  grow  Grecian  culture  on 
the  soil  of  fourteenth-century  Europe.  It 
was  the  lingering  sunset  of  Hellenistic  civ- 
ilization. Florence,  under  the  reign  of  Lo- 
renzo the  Magnificent,  was  an  imitation  of 
the  Athens  of  Pericles.  While,  like  all  imita- 
tions, its  splendor  was  more  glittering  than 
golden,  still  it  was  an  appreciation  of  the 
20 


MEANING  OF  CIVILIZATION 

most  cultivated  people  whose  achievements 
have  adorned  the  earth.  In  Romola,  that 
splendid  portrayal  of  Florentine  life  of  that 
day,  George  Ehot  describes  how  the  enthusi- 
asm for  Greek  Hterature  had  spread  to  all 
classes,  the  barbers  discussing  Greek  poetry 
with  their  patrons  while  performing  their 
tonsorial  duties.  With  the  debatable  excep- 
tion of  the  Shakesperian  dramas,  the  great 
poetry  of  eras  later  than  Greece's  Golden 
Age  are  the  literary  offsprings  of  the  Greek 
poets.  Virgil's  "^neid,"  Dante's  "Infer- 
no," Milton's  "Paradise  Lost"  are  the  chil- 
dren of  the  "IHad"  and  the  "Odyssey"  unto 
the  fourth  generation;  while  Sophocles's 
"Antigone,"  and  ^.^schylus's  "Prometheus 
Bound"  have  progenies  too  numerous  to 
mention.  Goethe,  Schiller,  Keats,  and 
Shelley  drank  deep  from  the  springs  of  Hel- 
lenistic lore.  Kant,  Carlyle,  Montaigne, 
Emerson  are  the  philosophic  descendants  of 
the  broad-browed  Athenian. 

Mediaeval  Christianity,  which  developed 
into  its  most  imposing  form  under  the  pon- 
tificate   of    Gregory    VI,    was    neither    an 
original  nor  a  Christian  type  of  civilization. 
21 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

It  was  the  reproduction  of  Roman  civiliza- 
tion wearing  the  robes  of  Christian  nomen- 
clature. The  crusades  were  the  reacting  of 
imperial  Roman's  mihtary  campaigns,  in- 
spired by  a  romantic  religious  delusion.  The 
mailed  knights  were  unconscious  mimics  of 
the  Roman  legions.  A  resurrected  Roman 
empire  was  the  ambitious  dream  which  made 
Napoleon  crucify  Europe  on  the  calvaries  of 
Wagram,  Linden,  and  Areola.  Germany's 
militaristic  frenzy  was  the  flaring  up  again 
of  Rome's  old  dream  of  world  dominion, 
even  the  head  dress  of  the  German  soldier 
being  an  imitation  of  the  helmets  of  the  men 
who  crossed  the  Rubicon  with  Csesar.  Nietz- 
sche's "Superman"  is  the  old  Csesar  wor- 
ship, thinly  disguised.  What  is  civilization? 
History  has  three  disinct  and  independent 
answers:  the  Hebrew  ideal  of  morality,  the 
Grecian  ideal  or  culture,  the  Roman  ideal  or 
power. 

Christian  civilization  is  an  unrealized 
dream,  an  ideal  which  has  never  become  a 
historical  reality.  Such  is  not  to  deny  that 
the  Christian  religion  has  been  expressed  in 
individual  hves  and  historical  movements. 


MEANING  OF  CIVILIZATION 

P.  Carnegie  Simpson,  in  his  book  The  Fact 
of  Christ,  portrays  his  conception  of  a  Chris- 
tian as  one  who  is  responding  to  whatever 
meanings  of  Christ  are,  through  God's 
Spirit,  being  brought  home  to  his  intellectual 
or  moral  conscience.  This  approaches  a  very 
satisfactory  definition;  it  is  exhaustive 
enough  to  include  the  essentials  of  personal 
Christianity,  and  workable  enough  to  be 
used  as  a  measure  of  the  Christianity  of  the 
individual.  Judged  by  this  definition,  there 
have  lived  on  this  earth  persons  who  have 
measured  well  up  to  the  standard.  Christ 
has  never  been  without  his  true  representa- 
tives since  he  vanished  from  the  eyes  of  men 
in  the  glory  of  Olivet.  These  are  the  lights 
which  for  eighteen  centuries  have  saved  the 
race  from  spiritual  darkness.  They  are  the 
nobility  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  stars  in 
Heaven's  Service  Flag,  the  salt  of  the  earth 
which  has  kept  it  from  falling  to  pieces  of  its 
own  fetidness. 

"Saints  of  the  early  dawn  of  Christ, 
Saints  of  Imperial  Rome, 
Saints  of  the  mart  and  busy  streets, 
Saints  of  the  modern  home, 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

Saints  of  the  soft  and  sunny  East, 

Saints  of  the  frozen  seas, 
Saints  of  the  isles  that  wave  their  palms 

In  the  far  Antipodes, 
Saints  who  were  wafted  to  the  skies 

In  martyr's  robes  of  flame. 
Saints  who  have  graven  on  men's  thoughts 

A  monumental  name."^ 

But  the  continuous  presence  of  individual 
Christians  on  earth  does  not  argue  a  Chris- 
tian civilization.  Christianity,  whether  ex- 
pressed by  the  individual  or  the  group,  has 
ever  been  at  variance  with  the  world.  The 
Christian  has  never  been  typical  of  any  civil- 
ization in  which  he  has  lived.  He  is  not  a 
product  of  any  historical  civilization,  but, 
rather,  a  transplanted  plant  whose  vitality 
is  such  that  it  will  flourish  in  any  soil.  Of 
such  the  Master's  words  have  ever  been  true: 
"They  are  not  of  the  world,  even  as  I  am 
not  of  the  world."  Whenever  the  Christian 
has  sought  to  conform  to  his  age,  like  Demas, 
he  "has  departed,  having  loved  this  present 
world."    The  real  moral  and  spiritual  rela- 

^  "The  Facts  of  Conversion,"  George  W.  Jackson.    By  per- 
mission of  The  Fleming  H.  Re  veil  Publishing  Company. 
24 


MEANING  OF  CIVILIZATION 

tion  of  any  individual  Christian  to  his  age  is 
expressed  by  the  petition  of  Jesus:  "I  pray 
not  that  thou  shouldst  take  them  out  of  the 
world,  but  that  thou  shouldst  keep  them 
from  evil."  Christian  people  with  reference 
to  every  age  in  history  since  the  first  century 
have  been  "they  of  Caesar's  household," 
idealists  who  of  necessity  maintained  com- 
mercial and  poHtical  affiliations  with  society, 
but  whose  real  interests  were  apart.  A  true 
disciple  of  Jesus  is  no  more  a  product  of  the 
world  of  yesterday  or  to-day  than  was  Saint 
John  an  embodiment  of  decadent  Judaism, 
or  Saint  Paul  of  the  Roman  empire.  The 
follower  of  the  Man  of  Galilee  has  ever  been 
a  stranger  and  pilgrim  on  earth,  wistfully 
looking  ''for  a  city  which  hath  foundations, 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  God."  So  will 
he  continue  to  be  until  the  dream  of  a  Chris- 
tian civilization  becomes  a  social  reality. 

As  Christianity  has  succeeded  with  the  in- 
dividual, it  has  also  succeeded  in  projecting 
itself  through  numerous  groups  and  fre- 
quent historical  movements.  It  would  be  a 
poor  assumption  to  contend  that  any  well- 
known  religious  movement  or  organization  is 
^5 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

a  complete  interpretation  and  representation 
of  the  life  and  teachings  of  the  Son  of  man. 
Commenting  on  Jesus's  words  to  the  woman 
of  Samaria,  "The  hour  cometh,  and  now  is, 
when  the  true  worshipers  shall  worship  the 
Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth,"  Kenan,  in  his 
work  The  Life  of  Jesus,^  says:  "The  day  on 
which  he  uttered  this  saying  he  was  truly 
the  Son  of  God.  He  pronounced  for  the  first 
time  the  sentence  upon  which  will  repose  the 
edifice  of  eternal  religion.  He  founded  the 
pure  worship  of  all  ages,  of  all  lands,  which 
all  elevated  souls  will  practice  till  the  end  of 
time.  Not  only  was  his  religion  on  this  day 
the  best  religion  of  humanity;  it  was  the 
absolute  religion;  and  if  other  planets  have 
inhabitants  gifted  with  reason  and  morality, 
their  religion  cannot  be  different  from  that 
which  Jesus  proclaimed  near  the  well  of 
Jacob.  This  sentence  of  Jesus  has  been  a 
brilliant  light  amidst  the  gross  darkness;  it 
has  required  eighteen  centuries  for  mankind 
— nay,  an  indefinitely  small  portion  of  man- 
kind— to  become  accustomed  to  it."  Chris- 
tianity is  too  profound  to  be  understood 

*  By  permission  of  Little,  Brown  &  Co. 

26 


MEANING  OF  CIVILIZATION 

fully  by  any  one  group  of  men,  too  vast  to 
be  compassed  by  any  one  movement. 

But  if  churches,  reformations,  revival 
movements  have  been  only  "broken  lights" 
of  the  Central  Sun,  they  at  least  have  often 
been  true  and  kindly  Hghts.  Beyond  dis- 
pute there  are  important  phases  of  Chris- 
tianity which  groups  and  movements  have 
faithfully  portrayed.  The  Franciscan  move- 
ment was  the  emphasis  on  the  social  ideal  of 
Christianity.  Monasticism  was  the  exag- 
geration of  Christ's  teachings  concerning  un- 
worldhness.  The  Wesleyan  movement  was 
an  earnest,  and  by  no  means  unsuccessful, 
effort  to  reproduce  Pentecost  by  making  re- 
Hgion  a  personal  experience.  Quakerism 
was  the  attempt  to  express  Christ's  teachings 
on  the  simple  and  wholesome  beauty  of 
friendliness.  It  does  not  discredit  the  church 
that  no  one  denomination  adequately  repre- 
sents the  Christian  religion.  By  many  men, 
by  various  movements,  by  different  denom- 
inations— each  in  a  measure  independent  of 
the  others,  like  the  unknown  miracle  worker 
of  the  Gospels — different  aspects  of  the 
truth  were  revealed  until  the  essentials  of 

n 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

the  gospel  of  Christ  have  come  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  men.  But  when  all  credit  is  given 
where  credit  is  due,  when  all  has  been  said 
that  can  be  said  of  the  use  which  the  world 
has  made  of  Christianity,  with  profound  rev- 
erence for  those  holy  lives  which  are  "Christ 
in  miniature,"  and  deep  respect  for  every 
organization  and  social  influence  of  which 
Jesus  Christ  has  been  the  inspiration,  still  it 
is  painfully  apparent  that  Christianity  has 
never  molded  any  age  into  a  Christian  civil- 
ization. Looking  backward  we  fail  to  find  a 
chapter  on  Christian  civilization  written  by 
the  achievements  of  the  past.  Looking  about 
us  in  the  present,  we  discover  that  in  the 
fabric  of  modern  life  only  here  and  there 
by  broken  threads  can  we  trace  the  influence 
of  Christian  ideals.  Looking  forward, 
what  do  we  anticipate?  For  what  may  we 
hope? 


28 


CHAPTER  II 

WHAT   IS   MODERN    CIVILIZA- 
TION? 

Having  referred  to  the  conspicuous 
epochs  of  history  with  a  view  of  clarifying 
the  definition  of  civihzation,  we  may  turn 
to  our  own  age  with  the  question,  "What 
is  modern  civilization?"  What  are  the  con- 
spicuous traits  of  our  times?  What  charac- 
ter is  the  present  generation  giving  to  the 
age  in  which  we  live  ?  How  will  the  historian 
of  the  future  label  the  civihzation  of  which 
the  man  of  to-day  is  the  type?  An  objec- 
tive answer  is  readily  found.  Modern 
America!  Whatever  the  character  of  mod- 
ern civilization  may  be,  America  is  its  most 
representative  national  type.  Our  country 
is  the  most  typical  and  cosmopolitan  nation 
on  earth.  It  is  a  cross-section  of  the  modern 
world.  The  United  States  of  America  is 
the  twentieth  century  nationalized.  To 
know  the  controUing  force  in  American  hf e 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

is  to  have  a  key  to  the  meaning  of  modern 
civilization.     What  is  the  American  ideal? 

These  are  questions  which  are  not  readily 
answered,  questions  which  perhaps  are  not 
yet  ready  to  yield  an  answer.  The  threads 
woven  into  the  intricate  fabric  of  modern 
life  are  of  such  variety  of  shade  and  color 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  determine  its  prevailing 
color.  We  hear  so  many  voices,  each  claim- 
ing to  be  official,  that  we  are  uncertain  as  to 
whose  is  the  authoritative  voice.  A  multi- 
tude of  preachers  are  proclaiming,  but  whose 
voice  is  the  voice  of  the  age?  There  are  so 
many  strong  and  apparently  unrelated 
forces  pouring  into  the  channel  of  modern 
civihzation  that  the  most  careful  observer  is 
uncertain  as  to  the  direction  of  the  main  cur- 
rent, or  whether  there  be  a  main  current. 
There  are  so  many  clashing  ideals,  each  as- 
suming the  championship  of  the  truth,  that 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  recognize  the  representa- 
tive ideal. 

During  the  early  days  of  the  war  prophe- 
cies were  rife  proclaiming  the  beneficent  ef- 
fect of  the  world  conflict  upon  contemporary 
society.  It  was  said  that  the  war  was  a 
30 


MODERN  CIVILIZATION 

school  wherein  humanity  would  learn  at  last 
a  hitherto  neglected  and  unforgettable  les- 
son. Morahsts  argued  that  the  present  gen- 
eration, having  witnessed  the  collapse  of  a 
civihzation  built  on  the  foundation  of  com- 
mercialism, would  rebuild  modern  life  on  the 
basis  of  ethical  fundamentals.  The  pulpit, 
assuming  the  role  of  the  prophet — without 
the  prophet's  vision — pointed  to  a  coming 
revival  of  religion  which  was  soon  to  sweep 
over  the  race,  carrying  away  the  chaff  and 
leaving  the  sweet,  wholesome  grain  of  true 
and  undefiled  religion.  The  widespread  fel- 
lowship of  suffering  was  diagnosed  as  the 
birth  pangs  of  a  regenerate  humanity. 
Above  the  flames  of  battle  was  seen  the 
vision  of  a  nobler  manhood,  crowned  with  a 
spiritual  halo.  Scores  of  volumes  were  writ- 
ten on  the  contribution  of  the  war  to  Chris- 
tianity. Phrases  were  coined  and  eagerly 
caught  up  by  visionaries,  showing  that  the 
men  who  had  been  in  battle  had  undergone  a 
fiery  baptismal  regeneration.  Preachers 
waxed  eloquent  on  "The  Religion  of  the 
Soldier"  and  "The  Christianity  in  the 
Trenches."  We  saw  men  throwing  their 
31 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

fortunes  and  lives  into  the  roaring  furnace 
of  war  with  an  abandon  that  was  magnifi- 
cent. We  felt  sure  that  by  such  costly  refin- 
ing process  the  di^oss  of  human  nature  was 
being  consumed,  and  that  out  of  the  flames 
would  come  the  pure  ore  of  Christianity. 
Rudyard  KipHng,  whose  fame  does  not  rest 
upon  a  friendly  feeling  for  Americans,  de- 
clared as  we  entered  the  war  that  America 
had  found  her  soul.  Lord  Northcliff e,  com- 
menting upon  President  Wilson's  speech 
before  Congress  in  which  he  voiced  our  coun- 
try's declaration  of  war,  said  that  never  be- 
fore had  a  nation  entered  into  war  on 
grounds  so  purely  idealistic.  Many  believed 
that  the  war  was  a  fierce  but  purifying  flame 
which  would  renovate  the  race.  It  was  con- 
fidently asserted  that  all  superficiality  would 
be  burned  away,  and  that  the  near  future 
would  be  translated  into  an  age  of  spiritual 
reahsm. 

Alas!  We  have  been  woefully  deceived. 
If  the  war  has  had  an  ennobling  influence 
on  the  man  of  to-day,  it  is  not  apparent.  If 
society  has  been  renovated,  the  results  of  the 
cleansing  process  are  not  strikingly  obvious. 


MODERN  CIVILIZATION 

If  humanity  to-day  is  wearing  the  sack- 
cloth of  penitence  for  past  sins  and  foUies, 
like  Jehoram  when  Benhadad  besieged 
Samaria,  its  sackcloth  is  hidden.  If  a  uni- 
versal revival  of  spiritual  religion  is  at  hand, 
its  approach  has  not  been  heralded  by 
tongues  of  fire  or  mighty  rushing  winds  of 
ideahsm.  We  still  await  the  impressive 
spectacle  of  vast  throngs  taking  the  kingdom 
of  God  by  violence.  However  the  war  may 
have  improved  the  maps  of  Europe  and 
Asia,  its  beneficent  effect  on  the  individual 
and  society  as  a  whole  seems  to  be  more 
imaginary  than  real.  Now  that  the  war  is 
behind  us,  what  has  become  of  the  religion 
of  the  soldier?  What  spiritual  contribu- 
tion is  being  made  by  the  man  whom  the 
war  metamorphosed  into  a  saint  in  khaki? 
Has  the  fine  ideahsm  of  a  nation  which 
"found  its  soul"  been  conserved?  There  is 
abundant  evidence  that  all  of  the  old  has  not 
passed  way,  and  that  all  things  have  not  yet 
been  made  satisfactorily  new.  Apparently, 
the  only  effect  of  the  war  on  human  nature 
has  been  to  magnify  and  draw  in  sharper 
contrasts    different    human    types.       The 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

money-worshiper  displayed  himself  as  the 
"profiteer";  the  sensuahst  plunged  into  an 
orgy  of  dissipation;  the  spendthrift  revelled 
in  unchecked  prodigality;  while  the  idealist 
proclaimed  more  insistently  than  ever  that 
man  cannot  live  by  bread  alone  and  has 
steadfastly  refused  to  sell  his  birthright  for  a 
mess  of  pottage.  The  war  did  not  mate- 
rially change  modern  society  as  much  as  re- 
veal the  kind  of  ideals  which  make  up  our 
civilization. 

The  complexity  of  modern  life  lies  in  its 
expression  of  ideals  rather  than  in  the  variety 
of  its  ideals.  Every  phase  of  activity  in  the 
modern  world — social,  political,  scientific, 
religious — is  consciously  or  unconsciously  a 
manifestation  of  one  or  two  masterful  ideals 
of  life.  The  ad  infinitum  of  the  plural  num- 
ber would  be  taxed  to  catalogue  the  perform- 
ances of  our  age;  the  dual  number  is  suffi- 
cient to  classify  its  ideals.  One  of  these  may 
be  represented  by  the  greatly  overworked 
and  often  wrongly  used  term  materialism. 
The  legitimate  use  of  this  word  is  not  to 
make  it  a  synonym  of  the  sneer  of  the  im- 
practical religionist  at  commercial  success 
34 


MODERN  CIVILIZATION 

or  mechanical  progress.  In  its  broader  and 
proper  sense  it  is  that  philosophy  which  seeks 
the  ultimate  worth  of  life  within  the  sphere 
of  the  senses,  and  denies  any  reality  beyond 
the  horizon  of  the  physical  universe,  an  inter- 
pretation of  hfe  which  is  of  the  earth  most 
earthy.  Wherever  it  has  touched,  it  has  be- 
fouled humanity.  Its  measure  of  business 
success  is  not  the  kind  of  service  rendered, 
but  the  widest  margin  of  profits.  The  mate- 
rialist's ideal  of  an  educational  institution 
is  a  factory  which  turns  out  human  parts  to 
fit  into  our  great  commercial  machinery 
rather  than  a  school  which  makes  for  man- 
hood and  develops  personality.  The  mate- 
rialist supports  reform  movements,  like  the 
prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
alcoholic  drinks  and  injurious  drugs,  not 
from  altruistic  motives  and  conscientious 
convictions,  but  because  habits  that  impair 
the  body  and  cloud  the  brain  weaken  the 
links  in  the  industrial  chain.  A  decade 
ago  W.  L.  Watkinson,  an  eminent  English 
clergyman,  complained  of  the  Temperance 
[VIovement  in  England  that  the  incon- 
t^enience  and  costliness  of  it  were  the  chief 
35 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

items  of  consideration,  and  that  a  favorite 
argument  in  this  crusade  was  the  financial 
gain  of  sobriety.  Not  infrequently  the  ma- 
terialist is  a  stanch  church  member  who,  if 
unconscious  of  the  spiritual  significance  of 
the  church,  is  astute  enough  to  perceive  that 
such  an  institution  restrains  lawlessness  and 
furnishes  additional  police  protection  to  his 
bonds  and  warehouses,  and  on  the  whole 
helps  to  make  the  city  a  comfortable  and  se- 
cure place  in  which  to  live.  The  so-called 
failure  of  the  church — a  failure  more  to  its 
credit  than  discredit — is,  to  a  large  extent, 
its  refusal  to  conform  to  standards  of 
worldly  success. 

"Suggestions  are  being  made,"  writes  Dr. 
J.  H.  Jowett  in  an  American  religious  peri- 
odical, "on  every  side  as  to  how  the  decrepit 
weakling,  the  church,  can  be  revived  and  re- 
cover a  vigorous  health  and  strength.  And 
here  are  some  of  the  suggestions:  Permit 
smoking  in  the  back  pews !  Let  the  services 
share  the  character  of  the  free-and-easy  serv- 
ices of  the  hut  life  at  the  front !  Shorten  the 
sermon!  Abolish  the  sermon!  Bring  the 
entire  service  within  the  compass  of  an  hour, 
36 


MODERN  CIVILIZATION 

or  better  still  half  an  hour!  Make  use  of 
the  cinematograph!  Don't  be  afraid  of  the 
drama!  Etc.,  etc."  All  of  which  simply 
means :  Convert  the  altar  into  a  stage  and  the 
chapel  into  an  amusement  hall!  It  is  sensu- 
alism inserting  itself  into  institutional  Chris- 
tianity. 

In  social  life  this  materialistic  ideal  re- 
veals itself  as  a  sort  of  twentieth-century 
epicureanism,  without  the  refinement  of  the 
Epicureans.  It  is  witnessed  in  the  laxity  of 
standards  of  conduct,  the  flexibihty  of  moral 
convictions,  the  playing  of  fast  and  loose 
with  the  marriage  bond,  the  popularity  of 
vulgar  amusements,  the  loss  of  reverence,  the 
mood  of  trifling  with  holy  things,  reckless  in- 
dulgence stimulated  by  a  mad  chase  after 
purely  physical  sensations.  It  is  the  mimicry 
of  the  court  life  of  Belshazzar.  Ancient 
Babylon  in  the  most  voluptuous  period  of  her 
existence  is  the  historical  illustration  of  so- 
ciety resting  upon  a  materialistic  founda- 
tion. Is  our  civilization  a  reproduction  of 
Babylon?  If  so,  the  sooner  the  handwriting 
appears  on  the  wall  the  better  it  will  be  for 
the  good  of  the  world  and  the  future  of  the 
37 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

race.  Apparently,  the  materialistic  ideal  is 
the  dominant  force  in  American  Kfe  to-day. 
If  the  apparent  is  a  symptom  of  real  disease, 
is  this  disease  an  ill  to  which  the  civilization 
on  the  western  hemisphere  will  succumb? 

If  the  materialistic  ideal  represents  one 
side  of  our  modern  life,  the  other  side  is  rep- 
resented by  the  Christian  ideal.  The  ad- 
jective is  chosen  advisedly,  for  it  is  suffi- 
ciently inclusive  to  represent  the  finest 
idealism  of  the  human  race.  Christianity 
epitomizes  the  best  for  which  mankind  has 
struggled  through  all  the  centuries ;  and  the 
sincerity  of  a  person's  idealism  is  his  rating 
as  a  Christian.  John  Wesley,  after  reading 
the  Meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  con- 
fided these  words  to  his  diary:  "I  doubt  not 
but  that  this  is  one  of  these  who  shall  come 
from  the  East  and  West  and  sit  down  with 
Abraham  in  his  kingdom."  And  who  can 
doubt  that  had  Socrates,  Plato,  Buddha, 
Virgil  been  among  those  who  heard  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  they  would  have  felt 
what  Nicodemus  acknowledged:  "Rabbi,  we 
know  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from 
God"? 

38 


MODERN  CIVILIZATION 

What  is  this  philosophy  of  life  that  we 
call  Christianity,  this  attitude  toward  the 
universe  which  is  at  once  morally  exclusive 
and  inclusive?  What  is  Christianity?  The 
question  has  produced  the  greatest  body  of 
literature,  both  in  quantity  and  quahty,  out- 
side of  the  Bible.  Saints  and  sages  have  rev- 
erently and  wisely  given  themselves  to  the 
task  of  explaining  it.  Monumental  theo- 
logical treatises  like  Saint  Augustine's  City 
of  God,  a  Kempis's  Imitation  of  Christ, 
Bishop  Butler's  Analogy,  Martineau's  Seat 
of  Authority  in  Religion;  works  of  poetic 
genius  like  Dante's  "Inferno,"  Milton's 
"Paradise  Lost,"  Browning's  "Paracelsus," 
Lanier's  "Crystal,"  and  in  our  own  day 
Francis  Thompson's  "Hound  of  Heaven"; 
masterful  sermons,  from  St.  Chrysostom's 
to  Horace  Bushnell's;  hymns  with  words 
majestic  enough  to  be  sung  to  the  music  of 
the  spheres,  as  Venantius  Fortunatus's 
"Welcome,  Happy  Morning";  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux's  "Jesus,  Thou  Joy  of  Loving 
Hearts";  Faber's  "There's  a  Wideness  in 
God's  Mercy";  Newman's  "Lead,  Kindly 
Light";  Charles  Wesley's  "Jesus,  Lover  of 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

My  Soul"  are  all  efforts  made  by  the  most 
gifted  and  reverent  among  the  sons  of  the 
race  to  express  the  depth  and  height  and 
breadth  of  the  riches  of  God  in  Christ. 
Christianity  is  a  mine  of  wealth  which  has 
never  been  exhausted  by  human  wisdom.  It 
can  neither  be  defined  in  words  nor  confined 
by  creeds  and  canons. 

If  the  philosophy  of  the  Christian  religion 
is  too  profound  to  be  sounded  by  any  one 
mind  or  one  sect,  the  teachings  of  Chris- 
tianity concerning  the  right  attitude  of  man 
toward  hfe  are  unmistakable.  Christianity 
teaches  that  there  are  two  worlds,  the  one 
visible  and  transient,  the  other  invisible  and 
eternal,  and  that  while  man  is  by  nature  a 
citizen  of  both  worlds,  his  relation  to  the  in- 
visible is  primary,  and  his  relation  to  the  vis- 
ible, though  real,  is  of  secondary  importance. 
Christianity  does  not  classify  the  two  worlds 
as  good  and  evil,  but  grades  them  accord- 
ing to  their  relative  values.  One  is  a  goodly 
pearl,  the  other  is  a  pearl  of  great  price.  The 
spiritual  world  is  the  house  whose  founda- 
tions are  laid  in  the  unseen  and  imperishable ; 
the  visible  is  the  scaffolding  which  at  best  is 

40 


MODERN  CIVILIZATION 

of  a  temporary  character.  Christianity 
argues,  therefore,  that  while  the  scaffolding 
is  important  in  the  building  of  the  house,  if 
a  man  is  wise,  he  is  more  concerned  with  the 
house  than  the  auxiliary  structure.  It  is  an 
act  of  wisdom  rather  than  duty  to  seek  first 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness. 
A  person  shows  prudence  rather  than  virtue 
who  is  incidentally  interested  in  laying  up 
treasures  "on  earth,  where  moth  and  rust 
doth  corrupt,"  but  is  diligent  in  laying  up 
treasures  in  heaven  "where  neither  moth  nor 
rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not 
break  through  nor  steal."  It  is  self-preser- 
vation rather  than  self-sacrifice  to  "fear  not 
them  which  kill  the  body,  .  .  .  but  rather 
fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul 
and  body  in  hell."  To  pluck  out  an  offend- 
ing eye  is  surgery  that  saves  rather  than  self- 
imposed  discipline.  The  rich  young  ruler 
who  refused  to  exchange  his  riches  for  treas- 
ures in  heaven  was  stupid  rather  than  sin- 
ful. The  use  that  man  has  for  the  visible 
world  is  the  use  that  a  soldier  has  for  a  train- 
ing camp,  a  place  where  he  prepares  for  a 
realm  of  activity.  A  Christian's  interest  in 
41 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

the  physical  is  that  it  should  be  a  means  to  a 
greater  end.  The  constructing  of  a  perfect 
social  order  on  earth  is  the  mission  of  Chris- 
tianity in  so  far  as  such  a  consummation  as- 
sists man  in  his  spiritual  development.  The 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth  for  which  the  Mas- 
ter taught  men  to  pray  is  the  necessary  result 
of  people  living  together  in  the  right  way 
because  they  have  first  established  their  citi- 
zenship in  heaven.  Christianity  is  not  a  doc- 
trine of  misty  otherworldliness  but  a  sane 
and  practical  connecting  of  man  with  both 
spheres  of  his  existence.  The  non-Christian 
is  one  who  inverts  these  relations.  Jesus  was 
the  sanest  Man  who  has  ever  lived  on  earth. 
Christianity  is  the  counter-ideal  of  mate- 
rialism in  modern  civilization;  and  its  influ- 
ence in  our  age,  while  less  objectively  con- 
spicuous, is  as  evident  as  the  influence  of  the 
materialistic  ideal.  Despite  the  prolonged 
siege  of  hostile  criticism,  the  superior  scorn 
of  the  morally  neutral,  and  the  treachery 
from  within  its  ranks,  the  church,  above  all 
other  institutions,  philanthropic  and  hu- 
mane, is  identified  with  the  Christian  reli- 
gion.   It  is  not  contended  that  that  church  is 

42 


MODERN  CIVILIZATION 

a  perfect  expression  of  Christianity;  its  prac- 
tice is  too  often  far  below  its  professions. 
But  it  is  significant  that  it  has  a  place  in  our 
social  order,  a  place  apparently  as  secure  as 
the  home  or  the  state.  Its  place  is  secure 
because,  theoretically  at  least,  it  represents 
the  true  Christian  ideal.  An  ideal  repre- 
sented by  a  historical  institution  which  the 
better  element  of  society  insists  is  indispen- 
sable argues  a  society  powerfully  influenced 
by  the  Christian  ideal  of  hfe.  Beyond  de- 
nial, Christianity  is  a  vigorous  and  far-reach- 
ing force  in  our  age. 

Whether  the  dominant  ideal  of  the  age  be 
materialistic  or  Christian  is  an  open  ques- 
tion. Both  of  these  forces  exhibit  marked 
strength.  But  though  we  may  classify  the 
quality  of  each  ideal,  their  divergent  influ- 
ences cannot  be  tabulated  with  sufficient  ac- 
curacy to  form  a  conclusion  as  to  their  rela- 
tive strength.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  neither 
concedes  the  victory  to  the  other.  Each  is 
strongly  fortified,  each  aggressive,  each  con- 
fident of  final  triumph. 

The  modern  man  hears  two  voices,  one 
saying:  "Let  us  tear  down  our  barns  and 
43 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

build  greater  ones,"  the  other  asking,  "What 
doth  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  The  world 
to-day  is  the  battlefield  of  Armageddon, 
where  two  hostile  and  irreconcilable  forces, 
after  centuries  of  mobilization,  have  met  in 
desperate  conflict.  In  this  world  war  there 
are  no  neutrals,  the  lines  are  clearly  drawn, 
the  fight  is  on.  How  goes  the  battle? 
Watchman,  what  of  the  night? 


44 


CHAPTER    III 
THE  TEMPER  OF  THE  TIMES 

A  PROPHECY  of  the  permanent  effects  on 
modern  life  of  either  the  materialistic  or 
Christian  ideal  would  be  highly  conjectural 
without  previous  consideration  of  the  temper 
of  our  age.  The  race,  like  the  individual, 
has  its  moods.  History  is  as  whimsical  as 
biography.  Eventful  decades  show  as  great 
a  temperamental  variety  as  the  different  per- 
sons we  know.  Our  age  has  its  mood  no  less 
than  the  days  of  the  French  Revolution. 
Whatever  this  mood  may  be,  that  ideal  to 
which  it  is  most  congenial  has  a  strategic  ad- 
vantage over  its  opponents.  If  the  mood  of 
the  age  is  impartial,  then  neither  materialism 
nor  Christianity  occupies  an  advantageous 
position,  the  success  of  either  over  the  other 
being  dependent  upon  the  relative  virility  of 
the  contending  forces. 

As  the  temper  of  a  person  is  indicated  by 
the  method  rather  than  the  nature  of  his  ac- 
45 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

tions,  so  the  spirit  of  an  age  is  reflected  by 
the  manner  rather  than  the  character  of  its 
performances.  The  pulse  beat  of  our  times 
registers  a  temper  of  pronounced  restless- 
ness. The  earth  tremor  of  human  unrest  is 
felt  by  all.  The  most  sanguine  of  statesmen 
refuse  to  see  in  the  newly  made  map  of 
Europe  more  than  temporary  equilibrium. 
The  wheels  of  industry  revolve  spasmodi- 
cally. The  ship  of  state  is  tossed  on  the  tur- 
bulent waters  of  social  unrest.  In  education 
the  multiformity  of  ideals  is  symptomatic  of 
an  unfixed  standard  of  mental  training,  one 
American  university  having  substituted  as 
a  qualification  for  admission  to  its  courses 
the  quality  of  untrained  intelligence  of  an 
applicant  in  place  of  prescribed  preliminary 
studies.  Even  the  church,  which  ought  to  be 
a  stabilizer  of  people's  moods  in  uncertain 
times,  has  been  infected  by  the  general  rest- 
lessness, and  is  spending  much  of  its  energy 
in  a  nervous  pursuit  after  many  non-essen- 
tials, neglecting  "the  one  thing  needful." 
The  world  of  to-day  is  uncertain  of  itself. 
The  temper  of  the  modern  man  is  an  epi- 
tome of  the  universal  mood.  He  is  a  stranger 
46 


THE  TEMPER  OF  THE  TIMES 

to  the  tranquil  philosophy  of  Saint  Paul: 
"I  know  how  to  be  abased,  and  I  know  how 
to  abound."  "I  have  learned,  in  whatever 
state  I  am,  to  be  content."  Whether  abased 
or  "abounding"  the  individual  of  contem- 
porary times  is  discontented  with  himself. 
He  is  busy  pulling  down  his  old  barns  and 
buildings  larger  ones,  but  his  soul  is  ill  at 
ease,  nervously  asking,  "What  lack  I  yet?" 
He  builds  for  himself  a  dwelling  place  of 
magnificent  proportions,  furnishes  it  with 
luxurious  appointments,  and  is  disillusioned 
because  it  does  not  call  out  to  him:  "Come 
unto  me,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  Me- 
chanical ingenuity  has  been  taxed  in  the 
invention  of  labor-saving  devices,  but  they 
have  failed  to  ease  our  yokes  of  worry  or 
lighten  our  burdens  of  care.  To-day  man 
moves  from  place  to  place  with  miraculous 
speed,  sailing  through  the  air,  rolling  over 
the  ground,  moving  under  the  sea,  and  in- 
deed gauging  his  every  activity  to  the  great- 
est possible  rapidity.  We  work,  play,  and 
pray  under  the  whiplash  of  hurry.  But  in 
our  reflective  moments  we  face  the  satirical 
question  of  the  hero  of  Bojer's  novel  The 
47 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

Great  Hunger,  "Where  are  we  going  that 
we  are  in  such  a  hurry  ?"  The  modern  young 
man  and  young  woman  are  over  sophisti- 
cated, and  wonder  why  life  has  lost  its  zest 
and  romance.  They  hunt  for  thrills  in 
travel,  fantastic  amusements,  overdone  col- 
ors, and  glaring  lights.  We  loudly  boast  of 
our  progress  and  fill  the  future  with  ever- 
enlarging  plans,  but  are  uncertain  whether 
our  progress  means  real  achievement  or  a 
tower  of  Babel  with  its  confusion  of  tongues 
and  noisy  contenticms.  The  man  of  to-day 
is  strenuously  energetic,  thoroughly  efficient, 
eagerly  progressive,  and  very  unhappy.  He 
has  gained  the  whole  world  and  is  dissatis- 
fied with  his  possessions. 

The  cause  of  this  general  unrest  is  not 
difficult  to  trace.  For  one  thing,  the  modern 
man  has  broken  with  the  authority  of  the 
past,  and  has  accepted  no  new  master.  Never 
were  men  so  contemptuous  of  authority. 
Political  constitutions,  scientific  dictums, 
ethical  decalogues,  ecclesiastical  canons  are 
no  longer  formidable.  The  pilots  of  state 
refuse  to  steer  by  the  old  harbor  lights  of 
historical  precedents.     Political  science  has 

48 


THE  TEMPER  OF  THE  TIMES 

thrown  into  the  discard  many  of  its  funda- 
mental tenets.  The  air  is  rent  with  the 
strident  shouts  of  factional  tongues,  each 
crying,  "I  am  the  state."  The  doctrines  of 
the  rights  and  authority  of  government,  in- 
herited from  our  forefathers,  are  being  rele- 
gated to  poHtical  museums.  Science,  wid- 
ening the  horizon  of  the  universe,  subdivid- 
ing matter,  discovering  new  and  unsuspected 
forces,  has  set  the  human  mind  speculating 
as  to  the  immutability  of  nature's  laws.  The 
Einstein  theory  of  "relativity"  is  casting  sus- 
picion on  the  supposed  changeless  element  in 
certain  physical  laws,  hitherto  considered 
fixed  or  even  axiomatic.  Physical  science, 
which  was  wont  to  sneer  at  the  fallibility  of 
theology,  is  growing  suspicious  of  its  own 
infallibility. 

In  the  sphere  of  moral  government  exter- 
nal authority  is  decidedly  unpopular.  The 
Ten  Commandments  are  subordinated  to 
the  individual  conscience.  Old-fashioned 
distinctions  of  right  and  wrong  are  consid- 
ered presumptuous  and  arbitrary.  A  con- 
tributor to  the  Fortnightly  Review,  discuss- 
ing what  he  terms  "Scientific  Sin,"  argued 
49 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

that  the  error  of  overprizing  the  truth  is 
quite  common,  that  there  are  many  who  seem 
positively  to  worship  the  truth,  as  if  truth 
were  the  essence  of  all  goodness,  and  that  the 
duty  of  lying  is  a  painful  and  uncommon 
duty,  yet  a  duty  which  had  to  be  seriously 
considered.  A  similar  attitude  toward  ethi- 
cal precepts  is  expressed  by  another  writer, 
who  contends  that  morahty  is  a  matter  of 
social  discipline,  and  not  an  inherent  princi- 
ple in  nature  like  the  law  of  gravitation, 
but  a  sort  of  agreement  arrived  at  by  nations 
and  communities  for  the  better  regulation  of 
their  affairs.  A  code  of  ethics  for  coiXQuer- 
cial  convenience  is  a  wide  departure  from  the 
emphatic,  "Thou  shalt!"  and  "Thou  shalt 
not!"  of  biblical  authority.  In  the  moral 
world  the  old  order  has  been  reversed,  the 
individual  conscience  being  exalted  at  the 
expense  of  inherited  moral  traditions. 

Our  age  is  likewise  resentful  of  authority 
in  religion.  Extreme  individualism  snatches 
the  crown  of  authority  from  organized  Chris- 
tianity. Canons,  dogmas,  doctrines  for 
which  emperors  once  convened  councils  and 
kings  went  to  war  are  received  or  rejected 

50 


THE  TEMPER  OF  THE  TIMES 

with  equal  facility.  Religious  beliefs  which 
were  once  held  as  fixed  and  unalterable  are 
regarded  as  old-fashioned  religious  clothes, 
interesting  but  long  since  out  of  date.  "The 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints"  was  well 
enough  for  the  saints,  but,  really,  the  saints 
were  rather  credulous  people.  In  place  of 
the  great  creeds  of  the  church  which  tell 
what  God  taught  men  at  Bethlehem  under 
the  Christmas  stars,  amid  the  unspeakable 
radiance  of  the  transfiguration,  under  the 
Olive  leaves  of  Gethsemane,  in  the  heart- 
breaking hour  of  Calvary,  and  in  the  glory 
of  Easter  morning,  we  have  substituted  our 
penny-page  philosophies  and  pink-tea  the- 
ologies. There  was  no  more  pitiable  com- 
mentary imaginable  on  the  spiritual  poverty 
of  modern  times  than  the  spectacle  of  grief- 
burdened  men  and  women  crowding  about 
ouija  boards  and  reverently  listening  to 
table-rappings.  Having  turned  his  back  on 
the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire,  the  man  of  to-day 
is  wandering  aimlessly  in  the  wilderness.  We 
have  mistaken  rebellion  for  independence, 
and  fancy  that  we  are  free  because  we 
have  lost  our  way.  Having  broken  with  the 
51 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

authority  of  the  past,  we  are  restless,  not 
knowing  whither  to  go.  This  very  uneasi- 
ness is  the  unadmitted  confession  of  a  search 
for  a  Lord  and  Master. 

The  spirit  of  restlessness  is  furthered  by 
the  obvious  superficiality  of  our  age.  We 
have  built  our  houses  on  the  sand  and  live  on 
the  surface  of  life,  hence  we  are  uneasy 
because  the  waters  are  troubled.  We  move 
quickly  enough,  but  it  is  the  mobility  of 
light  craft  in  the  shallows.  Many  of  our 
achievements  are  of  colossal  proportions, 
but  a  colossus  with  feet  of  clay.  We 
are  more  emotional  than  thoughtful.  We 
have  invested  so  heavily  in  the  material 
that  we  are  in  danger  of  spiritual  bank- 
ruptcy. We  are  ready  to  indorse  any  move- 
ment wearing  the  badges  of  philanthropy 
and  religion,  but  we  lack  serious  conviction. 
The  late  Maud  PoweU,  the  brilliant  violin 
virtuoso,  referring  to  successful  American 
workers  in  the  field  of  art,  said:  "There  are 
more  liveliness  and  high  spirits  than  of  spir- 
ituality. We  do  not  live  deeply  enough. 
We  depend  too  much  on  the  big  outer  stimu- 
lus to  rouse  us.    We  must  be  turned  away 


THE  TEMPER  OF  THE  TIMES 

from  the  things  that  we  possess  to  a  deeper 
inner  life."  The  inner  lights  burn  dimly, 
and  "If  the  light  within  be  darkness,  how 
great  is  that  darkness!"  Living  on  the  sur- 
face of  life,  we  are  subject  to  disturbing  sur- 
face conditions. 

An  additional  reason  for  modern  uneasi- 
ness Hes  in  the  fact  that  ours  is  a  period  of 
rapid  and  radical  transition.    In  a  very  real 
sense   every   age   is   an   age   of   transition. 
History  is   ever  ringing  out  the   old   and 
ringing  in  the  new.     Times  of  peace  and 
tranquilHty  are  changing  times  no  less  than 
years  of  storm  and  stress.     It  is  more  than 
a  poetic  fancy,  it  is  the  statement  of  an 
inevitable  process,  that  the  world  moves  for- 
ever "down  the  ringing  grooves  of  change." 
The  periods  which  are  designated  as  normal 
times  are  those  changes  which,  Hke  the  sea- 
sons, take  place  gradually,  imperceptibly, 
and  which  give  men  time  for  unconscious 
adjustment.      In    normal    times    there    is 
apparently  greater  pohtical  stability,  more 
clearly  defined  ethical  standards,  and  reli- 
gion speaks  in  stronger  tones  of  authority. 
But  the  process  of  change  which  our  age  is 
53 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

undergoing  is  abrupt  and  far  reaching.  We 
have  found  ourselves  thrust  violently  into  a 
new  and  unfamiliar  world,  a  world  of  strange 
social  forces,  new  political  alignments,  un- 
tried rules  of  conduct,  unfamiliar  religious 
impulses.  The  twentieth  century  is  a  shock- 
ing innovator.  It  has  struck  estabhshed 
customs  with  such  an  impact  that  many  of 
the  traditional  landmarks  have  been  shaken 
down.  There  are  not  wanting  prophets  who 
are  saying  that  there  is  a  spirit  abroad  in  the 
earth,  strong,  desperate,  maddened,  which, 
like  Samson,  will  not  stop  until  it  has  pulled 
down  the  pillars  of  every  time-honored  social 
institution. 

Times  of  transition  are  times  that  come  to 
destroy  as  well  as  to  fulfill.  When  such 
times  are  characterized  by  changes  of  kalei- 
doscopic rapidity  the  destructive  forces  are 
more  apparent  than  the  constructive,  and  for 
a  time  more  powerful  and  numerous.  When 
the  air  is  filled  with  the  dust  and  noise  of 
wrecking  machinery,  we  are  inclined  to  ask, 
dubiously,  "Of  this  great  temple  of  civiliza- 
tion, shall  one  stone  be  left  standing  upon 
another?"     Ours  is  a  distracted  age.     The 

54 


THE  TEMPER  OF  THE  TIMES 

world  mood  is  one  of  restlessness  and 
anxiety.  Though  the  causes  of  this  distrac- 
tion are  not  too  remote  to  be  ascertained,  yet 
the  possibilities  of  such  a  mood  are  uncertain. 
Analysis  is  surer  than  prophecy.  Even 
when  the  symptoms  are  unmistakable  the 
outcome  is  problematical.  Nature  has  her 
surprises  which  upset  all  human  calculations. 
Tennyson  "dipped  into  the  future  far  as 
human  eye  could  see,"  and  the  world  has  wit- 
nessed his  rhetoric  scientifically  fulfilled: 

"The  heavens  filled  with  shouting, 
And  there  rained  a  ghastly  dew, 
From  the  nations  airy  navies. 
Grappling  in  the  central  blue." 

But  chemistry,  steel,  electricity  furnish 
surer  materials  for  exact  prophecy  than  does 
human  nature.  Long  ago  the  wise  and  sor- 
rowful Jeremiah  confessed  himself  mystified 
by  the  subject,  and  reached  the  conclusion 
that  "the  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things 
.  .  .  Who  can  know  it?"  As  there  lurks  in 
every  person  a  madman  or  a  philosopher,  a 
saint  or  a  demon,  so  society  is  a  possible  mob 
or  a  chivalrous  order,  a  wrecker  or  a  builder, 
55 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

anarchy  or  a  state,  a  renegade  humanity  or 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  wherein  dwell- 
eth  righteousness.  When  human  nature  is 
most  uncertain  of  itself  it  is  most  easily  in- 
fluenced. Where  conviction  is  wanting,  per- 
suasion has  its  opportunity.  A  restless  age 
is  a  plastic  age.  The  mood  of  our  times  has 
surrendered  to  neither  good  nor  evil;  it 
presents  each  with  an  opportunity  for  con- 
quest. While  it  is  yet  pliable,  neither  the 
good  nor  the  evil  has  the  advantage  over  the 
other.    One  may  hope,  the  other  may  beware. 


56 


CHAPTER    IV 
A  DEFINITE  TYPE  INEVITABLE 

The  present  is  a  time  of  indefinite  social 
ideals,  flexible  moral  standards,  vague  re- 
ligious faith,  and  therefore  an  age  of  easy 
tolerance.  Any  philosophy  of  life  can  find 
a  footing,  any  creed  can  gain  some  believers, 
any  puppet  prophet  can  have  a  hearing, 
every  temple  has  its  worshipers.  Like  the 
men  of  Athens,  whom  Paul  addressed  from 
Mars'  Hill,  we  have  set  up  altars  to  all  the 
gods,  known  and  unknown.  We  respond  to 
the  winds  of  all  the  doctrines  which  are 
blowing.  We  would  profit  by  heeding  Car- 
lyle's  advice  concerning  the  attempt  to  ap- 
propriate the  universe:  "Attempt  not  to 
swallow  it,  for  thy  logical  digestion;  be 
thankful,  if  skillfully  planting  down  this  and 
the  other  fixed  pillar  in  the  chaos,  thou  pre- 
vent it  swallowing  thee." 

Nothing  shocks  us  very  much  because  we 
are  so  morally  and  rehgiously  elastic.     Or- 

57 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

thodoxy  and  heresy  are  distinctions  which 
are  more  imaginary  than  real.  The  "de- 
fender of  the  faith"  no  longer  persecutes  his 
heretical  brother;  he  is  merely  passively 
interested  in  what  his  brother  thinks.  In 
human  society  the  radical  and  the  reaction- 
ary receive  equal  consideration;  indeed,  we 
are  not  sure  which  is  which.  Innovations 
interest  us;  they  do  not  annoy  us.  The 
modern  man  is  rarely  shocked  by  moral  va- 
riations. When  he  is  confronted  by  an 
innovation,  instead  of  striking  the  inflexible 
body  of  his  convictions  and  producing  a 
ringing  protest,  it  sinks  quietly  and  without 
friction  into  the  yielding  clay  of  an  easy 
tolerance.  The  man  of  to-day  is  too  ethi- 
cally phable  to  feel  the  vibration  of  a  jarring 
impact. 

The  desirabihty  of  tolerance  is  always 
conditional.  The  needful  truth  for  an  age 
is  often  the  truth  which  that  age  has  forgot- 
ten, neglected,  or  suppressed.  When  reli- 
gious ardor  is  expressed  by  persecutions, 
inquisitions,  sectarian  bigotry,  and  acrimo- 
nious doctrinal  battles,  the  gospel  of  toler- 
ance is  the  gospel  for  the  hour.    When  men 

58 


A  DEFINITE  TYPE 

insist  that  the  ascetic  hfe  is  the  only  way  of 
salvation  and  that  the  soul  is  in  peril  when- 
ever the  doors  of  desires  are  unlocked,  then 
blessed  be  that  truth  which  leads  man  forth 
from  dark  monastic  walls  into  God's  bright 
world  of  trees,  flowers,  love,  and  sunshine. 
When  religious  teachers  are  most  certain 
that  man's  knowledge  of  God  is  limited  to 
one  age  and  race,  or  that  Christ  speaks  to 
the  world  only  over  the  private  wire  of  a 
historic  incarnation,  it  is  well  to  think  of 
Paul's  words:  "I  perceive  that  God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,"  and  to  believe  that 

"The  heathen  hands,  and  helpless. 
Groping  blindly  in  the  darkness. 
Touch  God's  right  hand  in  the  darkness. 
And  are  lifted  up  and  strengthened." 

But  when  bigotry  melts  into  flaccidity,  when 
the  sensual  supplants  the  ascetic,  when  men 
would  tear  down  all  the  moral  walls  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  obliterate  all  ethical 
and  rehgious  distinctions,  a  gospel  of  toler- 
ance is  not  only  untimely  but  positively 
injurious. 

The  conditions  which  make  for  tolerance 
59 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

to-day  are  neither  surprising  nor  unnatural. 
The  present  is  a  dramatically  transitional 
period  in  modern  history,  and  in  the  process 
of  swift  change  from  an  old  to  a  new  order 
a  plastic  condition  of  society  is  inevitable. 
The  old  vessel  has  been  melted,  and  the 
molten  material  has  not  yet  shaped  itself  into 
the  form  of  a  new  vessel.  For  a  while  it  is 
soft  and  pliable,  and  is  responsive  to  the 
touch  of  any  force  or  influence.  Our  age 
has  not  taken  a  definite  shape;  it  is  neither 
the  form  of  Beelzebub  nor  the  image  of  an 
angel;  it  is  shapeless.  Out  of  the  plastic 
stuff  the  potter's  hand  of  destiny  has  not  yet 
molded  a  new  and  distinct  type  of  civiliza- 
tion. The  present  has  not  stiffened  into  a 
fixed  historical  form.  This  indeterminate 
state  is  a  cause  for  anxiety.  It  gives  ground 
for  both  hope  and  fear ;  hope,  because  being 
yet  plastic,  it  may  be  shaped  into  the  image 
of  the  divine ;  fear,  because  being  still  shape- 
less, it  may  take  the  form  of  evil. 

"The  rudiments  of  empire  here 

Are  plastic  yet,  and  warm; 

The  chaos  of  a  mighty  world. 

Is  rounding  into  form." 

60 


A  DEFINITE  TYPE 

"The  chaos  of  a  mighty  world"  is  an  oppor- 
tune phrase.  It  is  very  expressive  of  our 
great  unshaped  world  to-day.  But  chaos, 
however  far-reaching  and  thorough-going, 
is  only  momentary.  Revolutions  play  their 
part  and  cease  to  be.  After  awhile  heresies 
are  no  longer  disturbing ;  they  are  either  ac- 
cepted or  pass  on  and  are  forgotten.  The 
significance  of  a  human  upheaval  is  not  in  its 
immediate  action  but  in  its  ultimate  result, 
not  in  its  cyclonic  movements  but  its  per- 
manent influence  upon  the  world  hfe.  The 
surgical  operation  is  incidental  in  itself,  the 
momentous  question  is  whether  the  patient 
succumbs  or  survives.  The  discordant  notes 
flung  into  the  air  are  important  only  as  they 
are  the  prelude  to  the  composition  which  fol- 
lows. It  is  the  composition  that  matters ;  the 
inharmonious  introduction  is  incidental. 
Into  what  kind  of  harmony  will  the  twen- 
tieth-century discords  be  gathered?  A 
Hymn  of  Hate,  or  a  Hymn  of  Praise,  a 
Halleluj  ah  Chorus  or  a  De  Prof undis  ?  The 
importance  of  the  present  mood  of  the  world 
is  its  connection  with  the  future  hfe  of  the 
world.  Our  age  of  phable  clay  must  settle 
61 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

into  a  distinct  and  permanent  mold.  We 
must  soon  have  a  fixed  and  unalterable  place 
in  history.  The  twentieth  century  is  to  be 
an  everlasting  monument  to  something,  for 
better  or  for  worse. 

With  society,  as  with  the  individual,  the 
oft-quoted  saying  is  true,  that  actions  form 
habits,  habits  determine  character,  and 
character  crystallizes  into  destiny.  As 
the  character  of  a  society  is  the  aggregate 
of  the  kind  of  individuals  composing  it,  it 
behooves  the  individual  to  study  his  own  acts 
and  examine  his  own  habits.  The  effect  of 
the  individual  life  upon  social  life  is  of  more 
than  passing  moment  or  transient  influence. 
Scientists  teach  that  every  noise,  that  of  a 
falling  stone  or  rippling  water,  starts  wave 
sounds  which  reverberate  forever.  What  the 
modern  man  is  thinking  and  doing  is  of  in- 
calculable future  social  consequence.  What 
are  we  doing?  What  are  we  thinking? 
Whatever  it  is,  we  may  be  assured  that  it 
will  have  its  permanent  effect  in  shaping  the 
kind  of  civilization  into  which  the  present 
age  will  inevitably  settle.  Goethe  was  wont 
to  say:    "Be  careful,  young  man,  what  you 

62 


A  DEFINITE  TYPE 

pray  for  in  youth,  for  you  may  receive  it  in 
old  age."  In  this  youth  time  of  a  new  era 
it  is  well  that  we  know  what  we  seek  in  our 
task  of  reconstructing  the  world.  Things 
are  in  the  making,  and  if  when  civiHzation 
has  assumed  permanent  form  it  is  less  grace- 
ful than  we  hoped,  our  regrets  will  be  un- 
availing, like  Esau,  "who  for  one  morsel  of 
meat  sold  his  birthright.  For  ye  know  that 
afterward,  when  he  would  have  inherited  the 
blessing,  he  was  rejected:  for  he  found  no 
place  of  repentance,  though  he  sought  it 
carefully  with  tears."  We  need  not  be  de- 
ceived into  feeling  that  our  acts  and  thoughts 
are  of  momentary  importance,  or  that  our 
lives  are  unrelated  to  human  life  as  a  whole. 
No  man  liveth  or  dieth  unto  himself.  Each 
hand  has  some  part  in  shaping  the  world. 
Writing  of  the  degi^adation  of  French  na- 
tional life  which  followed  the  reign  of  Louis 
XV,  Carlyle  argues  that  its  causes  were  not 
primarily  that  of  Philosophism  which  de- 
stroyed religion,  not  Turgot,  not  Necker, 
not  the  Queen's  "want  of  etiquette,"  but 
"every  scoundrel  that  had  lived,  and  quack- 
like pretends  to  be  doing,  and  been  only 

63 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

eating  and  misdoing,  in  all  provinces  of  life, 
Shoeblack  or  as  Sovereign  Lord,  each  in  his 
degree,  from  the  time  of  Charlemagne  and 
earlier.  All  this  (for  be  smx  no  falsehood 
perishes,  but  is  as  seed  sown  out  to  grow)  has 
been  storing  itself  for  thousands  of  years; 
and  now  the  account  day  has  come.  .  .  .  O 
my  brother,  be  not  thou  a  Quack.  Die 
rather,  if  thou  wilt  take  counsel;  'tis  dying 
once,  and  thou  art  quit  of  it  forever." 

Into  what  form  will  the  future  crystallize 
the  plasticity  of  the  present?  Will  it  return 
to  some  former  type  of  civilization,  or  will  it 
be  something  hitherto  untried  and  unknown? 
Among  the  rife  prophecies  are  the  follow- 
ing: An  international  pohtical  order  will 
be  created,  a  sort  of  superstate  with  its 
armies  and  navies  pohcing  the  world,  and 
maintaining  law  and  order.  People  will 
develop  along  national  lines  as  before — 
although  patriotism  is  at  a  low  ebb  just  now. 
Our  existing  pohtical  institutions  will  be 
overthrown,  and  the  world  ruled  by  the  pro- 
letariat. Moral  traditions  and  restrictions 
will  be  thrown  to  the  winds,  and  humanity 
will  suffer  the  calamity  of  social  atavism. 

64 


A  DEFINITE  TYPE 

There  are  other  prophets,  who  either  see- 
ing clearer  or  hoping  better,  feel  that  there 
might  be  a  return  to  something  Hke  Puritan- 
ism. Dr.  Parkes  Cadman  has  tentatively- 
expressed  such  an  opinion.  "If  democracy," 
he  says,  "simply  dissolves  the  multitudes  into 
individuals  to  collect  them  again  into  mobs, 
I  predict  that  Cromwellian  Puritanism  will 
once  more  become  fashionable.'"  But  mob 
violence  is  not  sufficiently  prevalent  or  dis- 
turbing to  produce  such  political  reaction. 
It  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that  our  profligate 
conduct  may  react  in  the  direction  of  the 
Puritan  code  of  ethics.  Sickened  of  sated 
appetites  and  overfed  senses,  people  may 
turn  in  disgust  from  their  tropical  abandon- 
ment of  feelings,  and  seek  the  purer  if 
sterner  uplands  of  austere  living.  The  Puri- 
tan ideal  is  not  the  Christian  ideal;  it  is 
nearer  John  the  Baptist  than  Jesus,  but  our 
age  is  as  foreign  to  Jesus  as  to  John.  The 
Puritan  ideal,  with  its  inflexible  Sabbath, 
its  hostility  to  laughter  and  song,  its  stern 
suppression  of  desires,  bleak  and  frigid  as  it 
was,  is  preferable  to  the  orgies  of  prodigality 

^  From  a  report  in  The  Brooklyn  Eagle,  by  permission. 

65 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

witnessed  to-day  on  every  hand.  The  Puri- 
tan is  to  be  desired  above  the  twentieth-cen- 
tury man-of-the  world.  The  camel  hair  and 
wild  honey  of  the  wilderness  is  a  finer  moral 
environment  than  the  court  of  Solomon. 

There  are  churchmen  who  think  that  they 
can  see  signs  of  an  approaching  civilization 
with  religion  as  its  predominant  force.  The 
belief  may  be  born  of  hope,  for  the  religious 
situation  is  too  complex  to  hazard  a  safe 
prophecy.  There  is  much  religious  activity 
and  little  religious  thinking  in  the  church 
to-day.  There  are  mergers,  movements,  and 
organization  enough,  but  religious  serious- 
ness and  depth  of  feeling  are  not  so  evident. 
Among  the  more  thoughtful  there  is  a  pro- 
nounced interest  and  a  certain  wistful  yearn- 
ing for  spiritual  realities.  Such  are  seeking 
after  God  "if  haply  they  may  find  him." 
Can  it  be  that  we  are  on  the  threshold  of  a 
distinctively  religious  age?  Such  a  con- 
summation is  devoutly  to  be  wished.  A 
religious  age,  however  imperfect  the  expres- 
sion of  religion  may  be,  is  more  desirable 
than  a  nonreligious  age.  A  religious  age  is 
always  an  age  of  serious  living.  Men  are 
66 


A  DEFINITE  TYPE 

never  so  much  in  earnest  as  when  most 
religious. 

Unless  the  pliant  world  life  of  modern 
times  resolves  itself  into  a  civihzation  pro- 
foundly influenced  by  a  divine  purpose,  it 
will  be  clay  grotesquely  marred  by  bhnd 
and  purposeless  forces.  If  after  all  the  cen- 
turies of  man's  tenure  of  earth,  after  all  the 
stern  experiences  of  the  race,  after  all  the 
lessons  which  the  past  has  tried  to  teach, 
we  are  not  nearer  a  superior  social  order, 
humanity  might  with  good  reason  despair 
of  itself.  Surely,  man  has  lived  long  enough 
in  this  world  to  begin  to  learn  to  Hve  well. 
We  have  been  so  busy  demanding  our  rights 
from  our  fellow  men  that  we  have  forgotten 
that  ours  is  a  spiritual  Hneage.  Less  in- 
sistence upon  our  rights  as  human  beings, 
and  a  clearer  realization  of  the  dignity  of 
divine  sonship  is  a  need  of  our  age.  True 
progressive  social  evolution  is  toward  a 
theocracy  rather  than  toward  a  democracy. 
The  people  need  to  hear  the  voice  of  God 
more  than  the  world  needs  to  hear  the  voice 
of  the  people. 

Whether  or  not  a  distinctively  Christian 
67 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

era  is  an  early  prospect  depends  largely 
upon  two  factors,  the  degree  of  the  modern 
man's  interest  in  religion  and  the  ability  of 
Christianity  to  capitalize  that  interest.  If 
there  is  a  point  of  contact  between  Christian- 
ity and  the  man  of  to-day,  it  is  in  whatever 
interest  in  religion  that  man  might  have.  If 
man  is  "incorrigibly  religious,"  it  is  equally 
true  that  he  is  spasmodically  religious.  Cir- 
cumstances condition  a  person's  susceptibil- 
ity to  religious  influences.  When  bereft  of 
earthly  happiness  the  human  heart  turns  to 
religion  for  compensation. 

Since  its  beginning  Christianity  has  found 
disciples  among  the  poor,  the  sorrowful,  the 
outcasts,  the  world-broken.  The  message 
which  Jesus  sent  to  John  the  Baptist  in  the 
fortress  of  Machserus  explains  the  cause  of 
the  popularity  of  Christianity  among  the 
victims  of  hfe's  battles:  "Go  your  way,  and 
tell  John  what  things  ye  have  seen  and 
heard ;  how  the  blind  see,  the  lame  walk,  the 
lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the 
dead  are  raised,  to  the  poor  the  gospel  is 
preached."  The  religious  message  which 
can  say  with  authority,  "Come  unto  me,  all 
68 


A  DEFINITE  TYPE 

ye  who  labor  and  are  heavily  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest,"  will  always  find  follow- 
ers. Nevertheless,  the  class  of  people  to 
whom  religion  is  primarily  a  refuge  from  the 
storms  of  mortal  existence  is  not  the  most 
influential  class  of  society.  Where  the  re- 
ligious interest  of  man  is  aroused  only  by 
hardships  and  sorrow  the  human  area  for  the 
operation  of  Christianity  is  too  restricted 
and  uncertain  to  permeate  the  whole  of  so- 
ciety. There  is  a  deal  of  truth  in  the  state- 
ment that  the  history  of  a  people  is  the 
history  of  her  great  men.  Humanity  walks 
in  the  footsteps  of  its  leaders,  and  the  leaders 
are  not  creatures  easily  broken  by  adversity. 
Those  whom  others  instinctively  follow  are 
by  nature  too  self-assertive  and  resourceful 
for  their  religious  instincts  to  be  stimulated 
by  misfortune.  Such  natures  usually  grap- 
ple with  and  overcome  their  troubles  or  ac- 
cept them  philosophically  rather  than  seek 
relief  in  religious  faith. 

The  religious  interests  of  vigorous  per- 
sonahties  capable  of  molding  human  senti- 
ment arise  from  other  and  deeper  causes 
than  personal  affliction.    Ian  Maclaren  said 
69 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

that  if  you  would  have  a  cause  succeed,  do 
not  defend  it  in  books,  but  hnk  it  up  with  a 
great  personality  and  it  will  be  successful. 
Every  sweeping  revolution,  every  epochal 
movement  is  associated  with  the  names  of 
commanding  figures.  The  Reformation 
must  needs  have  its  Luther  and  its  Melanch- 
thon;  Puritanism  its  Cromwell  and  its  Mil- 
ton; Methodism  begins  with  its  Wesleys. 
"An  institution,"  writes  Emerson,  "is  the 
lengthened  shadow  of  a  great  man."  The 
weak  and  unresisting  never  hold  an  influen- 
tial place  in  human  society.  The  champions 
of  early  Christianity  were  men  of  tre- 
mendous virility  and  exceptional  gifts. 
Among  the  twelve  apostles  there  were  lead- 
ers of  unusual  natural  endowments  and 
native  strength  of  character.  In  the  chosen 
three,  Peter,  James,  and  John,  was  em- 
bodied djTiamic  power  which  under  the  nec- 
essary stimulus  would  have  made  itself  felt 
in  any  age  and  among  all  classes.  Peter's 
masterful  presence,  impassioned  fervor,  and 
generalship  in  dealing  with  men  would  have 
made  him  a  conspicuous  figure  in  any  arena 
of  public  life.     James's  practical  sagacity, 

70 


A  DEFINITE  TYPE 

his  organizing  ability,  and  fine  tact  rate  him 
as  a  potential  commercial  genius.  The  phil- 
osophical intellect  of  Saint  John  places  him 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  great  thinkers  of  the 
race.  Gentile  Christianity  received  a  tre- 
mendous impetus  in  being  championed  by 
that  many-sided  genius  the  man  of  Tarsus. 
That  early  Christianity  advanced  with  such 
conquering  power  was  to  no  small  degree 
due  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the  greatest 
men  of  the  first  and  second  centuries  con- 
secrated their  genius  to  the  propagation  of 
the  new  faith.  Great  causes  demand  great 
leaders.  Great  leaders  demand  great  causes 
to  champion. 

For  the  past  half  century  the  pulpit  has 
been  preaching  the  gospel  of  service  and  the 
mission  of  Christianity  to  the  poor.  Lazarus 
begging  crumbs  from  the  rich  man's  table 
has  occupied  the  frontispiece  of  modern 
theology.  We  have  almost  come  to  think  of 
the  Christian  religion  exclusively  as  an  up- 
lift movement.  Despite  the  unquestionable 
claim  which  unfortunate  humanity  has  upon 
the  ministry  of  a  "cup  of  cold  water,"  there 
is  no  historic  or  ethical  reason  in  limiting 
71 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

Christianity  to  a  class  religion.  Christianity- 
has  been  retarded  as  a  powerful  force  in  so- 
ciety because  the  church  in  these  later  days 
has  neglected  to  make  disciples  of  those  who 
are  in  need  neither  of  material  assistance  nor 
hygienic  enlightenment.  The  time  is  at  hand 
when  the  church  must  face  the  question, 
"What  is  the  message  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion to  the  strong?"  The  fittest  are  the 
sculptors  or  the  iconoclasts  of  civilization. 
Puny  hands  neither  destroy  nor  build.  If 
the  near  future  is  to  witness  the  overthrow 
of  ancient  institutions,  the  destruction  will 
be  the  work  of  cyclonic  forces.  If  a  new  age 
shall  behold  a  Christian  civilization  shaped 
out  of  the  mass  of  present  conditions,  it  will 
largely  be  the  work  of  consecrated  power 
and  dedicated  genius. 


7^ 


CHAPTER  V 

IS  CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 
PRACTICAL? 

Is  human  society  capable  of  being  Chris- 
tianized? Can  the  leopard  change  his  spots? 
Is  there  an  angel  of  Christian  civilization 
hidden  beneath  the  unpromising  exterior  of 
the  social  life  of  man,  or  is  the  material  too 
gross  to  be  refined  by  the  lofty  idealism  of 
the  Man  of  Gahlee?  Does  the  Christian  j-e- 
ligion  offer  salvation  to  the  individual  only? 
Is  the  relation  of  man  to  man  essentially  too 
complicated  to  be  solved  by  the  simphcity 
and  beauty  of  the  gospel  precepts? 

That  there  have  been  true  Christians  in 
the  world  since  the  days  that  Jesus  walked 
the  earth  is  beyond  question,  people  who 
have  reproduced  within  their  limitations  the 
life  of  the  Master.  Among  those  who  have 
written  their  names  in  Christlike  characters 
on  the  honor  roll  of  the  centuries  are  apostles 
like  Paul,  monks  Hke  John  of  Damascus, 

73 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

kings  like  Alfred  the  Great,  statesmen  like 
Gladstone,  soldiers  like  Robert  E.  Lee  and 
General  O.  O.  Howard,  preachers  like  Phil- 
lips Brooks,  and  a  countless  host  of  men  and 
women  unknown  to  fame  whose  hearts 
burned  within  them  as  they  walked  with 
Christ  life's  pilgrim  way.  Such  are  our  real 
superiors,  for  whom  earth  owes  heaven  its 
boundless  gratitude. 

"We  thank  Thee  for  each  mighty  one 
Through  whom  the  living  hght  hath  shone; 
And  for  each  humble  soul  and  sweet 
That  lights  to  heaven  our  wandering  feet."^ 

Christ  has  succeeded  marvelously  with 
the  individual.  "Jesus  never  failed  but  once 
with  the  individual,"  said  the  author  of 
Beside  the  Bonnie  Briar  Bush;  "that  was 
with  Pilate.  He  never  succeeded  in  pubhc 
but  once;  that  was  when  he  was  crucified." 
The  individual  with  whom  Jesus  has  suc- 
ceeded has  not  been  primarily  a  product  of 
his  social  environment.  Some  have  hved  at 
war   with   their   age   hke    Savonarola   and 

^  Richard  Watson  Gilder  in  The  Methodist  Hymnal.  By 
permission  of  The  Methodist  Book  Concern. 

74 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

Wesley;  others  have  detached  themselves 
from  society  and  lived  in  monasteries,  like 
Saint  Bernard  of  Clairvaux;  all  have  been 
conspicuous,  their  very  goodness  shining  in 
gleaming  contrast  to  the  dingy  social  ideals 
amid  which  they  passed  their  days. 

The  twentieth  century  is  an  ethical  im- 
provement on  that  in  which  the  first  disciples 
were  as  sheep  among  wolves.  But  the  man 
who  went  down  to  Jericho  was  not  the  last 
person  to  fall  among  thieves.  The  brigands 
who  beat  and  robbed  him  were  more  primi- 
tive in  their  methods,  but  not  different  in 
their  principles  from  the  modern  profiteer. 
The  prodigal  son  was  not  the  last  social 
parasite.  The  manner  of  his  life  in  the  "far 
country"  is  reproduced  in  thousands  of  use- 
less lives  to-day;  and  uselessness  is  among 
the  worst  of  social  crimes.  Class  hatred  and 
special  privilege  are  as  unchristian  to-day  as 
when  the  Great  Teacher  flung  his  terrific 
denunciations  into  the  faces  of  the  astonished 
scribes  and  Pharisees.  If  present-day  society 
were  to  be  transformed  overnight  into  a 
Christian  civihzation,  it  would  be  so  unlike 
anything  we  have  experienced  that  it  would 
75 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

be  like  living  in  a  new  world  in  company 
with  a  new  order  of  humanity. 

The  following  elementary  tests  may  rea- 
sonably be  applied  as  conditions  governing  a 
possible  Christian  civilization.  Human  so- 
ciety is  Christian: 

(a)  Where  the  interrelation  of  social 
units,  as  states  or  nations,  is  of  reciprocal 
helpfulness. 

(b)  Where  the  attitude  of  the  social  unit 
— the  controlling  powers  of  the  state — to  the 
individual  is  that  of  impartial  justice  and 
opportunity. 

(c)  Where  the  majority  of  individuals 
composing  the  social  unit  maintain  brotherly 
relations  one  with  another.  Society  func- 
tioning under  these  conditions  would  be  the 
widest  possible  departure  from  any  known 
social  standard.  Such  society  would  pre- 
suppose, for  one  thing,  international  Chris- 
tianity, a  real  brotherhood  of  nations.  From 
the  viewpoint  of  known  social  standards 
nothing  could  be  more  revolutionary.  The 
relation  of  man  to  man  would  be  radically 
altered.  But  Christianity  as  the  law  of  so- 
ciety has  never  been  enacted  in  the  Parlia- 

76 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

merit  of  Man,  never  seriously  considered  in 
the  Federation  of  the  world.  A  city  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness  is  an  experiment 
which  has  never  yet  succeeded  on  earth.  The 
geography  of  the  New  Jerusalem  is  of  a 
paradise  which  is  yet  to  materialize. 

The  Christian  rehgion  is  a  simphfying 
process.  It  reorganizes  individual  character 
around  two  simple,  uncompromising  mo- 
tives: "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart  .  .  .  ,  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself."  But  the  practical  application  of 
the  simphcity  of  Christ's  teachings  to  a 
problem  as  intricate  as  is  modern  society  is 
fraught  with  perplexing  difficulties.  We 
live  in  a  network  of  human  relationships. 
Each  man  is  many  kinds  of  men;  he  is  a 
father,  a  son,  a  citizen,  a  buyer,  a  seller,  a 
competitor,  a  producer,  a  consumer.  Is  it 
possible  to  Christianize  all  of  these  relation- 
ships? Can  government  be  at  once  efficient 
and  Christian?  Can  business  be  both  Chris- 
tian and  practical?  Is  the  gospel  of  the 
Nazarene  antagonistic  to  the  law  of  self- 
preservation?  What  are  the  statistics  of  the 
strange  paradox,  "He  that  loseth  his  life 
•T7 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

shall  find  it"?  The  task  of  Christianizing 
society  lies  not  so  much  in  its  human  diffi- 
culty as  in  its  practicability.  The  question 
is  not,  "Is  it  hard  to  do?"  but  "Can  it  be 
done?"  If  its  difficulty  were  the  sole  ob- 
stacle, the  task  of  Christianizing  society 
would  be  relatively  simple.  The  challenge 
of  the  difficult  is  one  which  appeals  to  daunt- 
less human  nature.  If  it  is  a  mountain 
range,  human  skill  will  tunnel  under  it.  If 
it  is  an  ocean  of  wind  and  wave,  man's  in- 
genuity and  daring  plow  through  or  sail 
over  it.  If  it  is  the  undiscovered  poles  of  the 
earth,  the  very  dangers  lure  adventurous 
spirits  to  the  white  stillness  of  those  far 
frozen  zones.  If  it  is  a  cause  dear  to  his 
heart,  man  marches  unflinching  through  fire 
and  blood  to  attain  it.  If  the  Christianizing 
of  society  is  solely  a  difficulty,  be  it  ever  so 
great,  the  day  will  dawn  on  earth  when  so- 
ciety will  acknowledge  the  right  of  the  Hero 
of  the  Gospels  to  say:  "Ye  call  me  Lord  and 
Master,  and  ye  say  well,  for  so  I  am." 

It  is  on  the  sole  assumption  that  the  Chris- 
tian regeneration  of  society  is  a  difficulty 
rather  than  an  impossibihty  that  the  subject 

78 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

merits  any  discussion  whatever.  If  it  is  an 
impossibility,  the  question  had  best  be  closed, 
and  the  champions  of  the  Christian  religion 
be  content  to  see  individual  Christian  char- 
acters growing  in  the  world  but  not  of  the 
world,  hke  lovely  flowers  blooming  in  drear 
places.  If  the  transforming  power  of  the 
Christian  religion  is  limited  to  the  conversion 
of  the  individual  here  and  there,  monasticism 
is  the  most  logical  means  to  the  end.  But  if 
a  Christian  civihzation  is  a  possibility,  such 
hypothesis  is  a  standing  challenge  to  every 
Christian,  be  its  consummation  ever  so 
remote  and  its  achievement  ever  so  difii- 
cult. 

A  possible  Christian  civilization  must  rest 
upon  certain  indispensable  principles,  the 
omission  of  any  one  of  which  precludes  the 
possibility  of  insuring  its  achievement. 
The  amenability  of  humanity  as  society  to 
the  social  principles  of  Jesus  is  a  primary 
condition  to  its  social  rebirth.  The  achieve- 
ment is  unthinkable  unless  the  interrelation- 
ship of  man  with  his  fellow  man  can  be 
controlled  by  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.  In 
his  De  Civitate  Dei,  Saint  Augustine  says: 
79 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

"Two  loves  have  built  two  cities :  love  of  self, 
or  the  egotism  that  issues  in  blindness  and 
contempt  of  God,  built  the  earthly  city ;  the 
love  of  God  and  the  ideal  urged  to  the  point 
of  self-sacrifice  raised  the  celestial  city  .  .  . 
The  two  societies  are  respectively  that  of  the 
idealist  and  altruist  and  that  of  the  egotists." 
These  two  fundamentally  different  ideals  of 
society,  under  varying  forms,  have  competed 
throughout  history  for  the  possession  of  the 
world,  and  though  the  competition  still  goes 
forward,  the  later  city  has  apparently  ever 
been  the  stronger.  Plato  speaks  as  the  voice 
of  human  experience  in  all  ages  when  he 
declares  that  "the  ideal  city  is  nowhere  on 
earth." 

"The  egotism  that  issues  in  blindness," 
which  has  built  "the  earthly  city,"  is  the  same 
spirit  which  has  raised  barriers  of  hatred  and 
jealousy  between  nations.  The  more  en- 
lightened nations  may  indignantly  disavow 
the  unscrupulous  statecraft  of  Machiavelh, 
but  the  international  policy  of  each  state  is 
in  principle  Machiavellian.  "Our  father- 
land must  be  defended  by  glory  or  by 
shame,"  he  asserted.  "When  her  safety  is 
80 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

at  stake  there  must  be  no  consideration  of 
injustice,  of  pity  or  of  mercy,  of  shame  or  of 
honor ;  we  must  put  aside  all  else  and  follow 
whatever  course  may  conduce  to  her  life  and 
freedom."  This  is  a  genuine  expression  of 
conventional  patriotism.  But  by  no  dexter- 
ity of  New  Testament  exegesis  can  Machia- 
vellian statesmanship  be  squared  with  the 
teaching  of  Jesus.  Such  is  not  rendering  to 
Csesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  but  the 
selling  of  soul  and  body  to  Csesar.  Can  it  be 
questioned  that  the  foreign  pohcies  of  the 
nations  of  the  world  to-day  are  more  Machia- 
vellian than  Christian?  M.  D.  Petrie,  in  the 
Hibbert  Journal  (April,  1920) ,  discusses  the 
question  in  unequivocal  language:  "Can 
any  one  seriously  maintain  that  the  counsels 
of  Christian  perfection  could  be  adopted  as 
state  maxims?  Greece  and  Rome  had  their 
War  Gods  as  well  as  their  War  Lords; 
Christianity  knows  none  such.  The  great 
law  of  disinterestedness,  of  self-abandon- 
ment, of  life  for  others — can  it  find  a  place 
in  sound  politics?  Oould  the  gospel  be  used 
as  a  manual  of  statecraft?  Could  any 
statesman  allow  himself  the  luxury  of  loving 
81 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

a  rival  state  as  his  own?'"  These  are  consid- 
erations which  cannot  be  evaded  on  the  plea 
of  national  self  preservation.  Until  the 
gospel  is  used  as  a  manual  of  statecraft, 
until  Christianity  is  allowed  to  assume  the 
political  and  social  responsibility  as  well  as 
the  spiritual  responsibility  of  man,  a  Chris- 
tian civilization  is  a  misnomer. 

The  eyes  of  optimism  see  the  silver  lining 
to  the  political  storm  clouds  hovering  over 
the  world.  Aristotle  said  that  man  was  a 
"political  animal."  Some  observers  note  in- 
creasing signs  that  this  "political  animal"  is 
becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  political  sit- 
uation which  he  has  created.  It  is  apparent 
that,  despite  the  political  and  social  bedlam 
of  the  modern  world,  despite  its  jealousies 
and  rivalries,  the  peoples  of  the  earth  are 
tiring  of  the  old  social  order.  What  they  are 
anticipating  may  be  nothing  more  tangible 
than  some  vague  theory  of  economic  better- 
ment or  political  equity.  But  signs  are  not 
wanting  that  the  heart  of  humanity  is  for- 
saking its  old  idols  of  pohtical  rivalries  and 
social  tyrannies.     There  is  an  unmistakable 

*  By  permission  of  The  Hibbert  Journal. 
82 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

world-weariness  which  is  indicative  of  a 
prevalent  desire  for  a  more  idealistic  form 
of  social  life.  If — and  there  seems  to  be  rea- 
son for  such  hope — "the  city  of  self  or  ego- 
tism" is  losing  its  hold  on  mankind,  the  time 
may  not  be  remote  when  the  "political  ani- 
mal" will  welcome  international  Christianity, 
not  as  a  new  and  wider  political  alliance,  but 
as  a  super-state  ideal,  a  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth,  a  mandate  of  humanity. 

The  realization  of  a  Christian  civilization 
is  conditioned  upon  divine  authority  in  addi- 
tion to  human  susceptibility.  If  Jesus  did 
not  intend  that  society  should  be  Christian- 
ized, there  is  small  likelihood  of  Christianity 
ever  becoming  the  realized  ideal  of  a  civihza- 
tion.  Human  achievements  do  not  transcend 
divine  purposes.  The  unbiased  student  of 
Christian  ethics  cannot  but  see  that  Jesus 
longed  for  a  perfect  social  order  to  be  estab- 
lished on  earth.  What  other  meaning  can 
possibly  be  attached  to  the  petition:  "Thy 
kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  as 
it  is  in  heaven"?  Jesus  did  not  formulate 
methods  to  accomplish  this  end — methods 
change  with  changing  conditions — but  his 
83 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATIOlSr 

purpose  is  unmistakable.  The  world  was 
loathsome  with  corruption;  he  wanted  it 
purified,  so  he  told  his  disciples  that  they 
were  to  be  "the  salt  of  the  earth."  The 
world  was  in  darkness;  he  yearned  for  its 
illumination,  so  he  taught  his  followers  to  be 
"the  light  of  the  world."  Society  was  with- 
out moral  guidance;  so  he  impressed  upon 
his  converts  their  moral  opportunity,  saying 
"A  city  set  on  the  hill  cannot  be  hid."  He 
regarded  all  mankind  as  the  potential  sub- 
jects of  his  kingdom,  so  he  sent  his  disciples 
as  his  ambassadors  to  the  Gentile  world,  with 
the  command:  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world, 
and  make  disciples  of  all  nations."  Any 
scheme  of  Christianity  which  does  not  con- 
template the  Christianizing  of  society  is  a 
partial  understanding  and  an  abortive  carry- 
ing out  of  the  program  of  Jesus.  The  con- 
version of  society  into  a  Christian  civilization 
has  the  unmistakable  authority  of  the  teach- 
ings and  purpose  of  Jesus.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  his  ministry  Jesus  announced  that  he 
came  not  to  bring  peace  into  the  world  but 
a  sword.  Whenever  that  sword  flashed  it 
struck  some  social  sin  of  his  times — extor- 

84 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

tionate  taxation,  "burdens  grievous  to  be 
borne,"  the  tyranny  of  caste  in  religion. 
When  we  feel  his  indignation  kindling  to  the 
white  heat  of  wrath,  it  is  in  his  denunciation 
of  the  "whited  sepulchers"  whose  sins  were 
the  crimes  of  social  injustice,  the  Pharisees 
who  tithed  "mint  and  rue  and  ail  manner  of 
herbs,  and  omitted  judgment,"  the  lawyers 
who  took  away  "the  key  of  knowledge,"  the 
fools  who  made  clean  the  "outside  of  the 
cup,"  but  withheld  alms  from  the  deserving 
poor.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Jesus's 
arraignment  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  is 
limited  to  the  men  to  whom  he  spoke,  or  that 
the  system  of  which  they  were  the  products 
is  one  of  isolated  and  exceptional  wicked- 
ness. Christ's  denunciation  of  the  sins  of  his 
contemporaries  is  his  condemnation  of  wrong 
human  relationships  in  every  age.  It  is  his 
official  order  for  a  general  offensive  for  all 
times  against  all  fronts  where  social  sins  are 
entrenched.  The  Son  of  man  was  the  relent- 
less enemy  of  all  institutions  built  on  "man's 
inhumanity  to  man."  Christianity,  if  it  be 
loyal  to  its  Founder,  can  never  sheathe  the 
sword  until  all  social  wrongs  are  slain. 
85 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

The  destructive  mission  of  Jesus  was  pre- 
liminary to  his  constructive  work.  He 
destroyed  in  order  that  he  might  fulfill.  His 
constructive  program  was  to  build  humanity 
into  a  social  order  which  he  could  approve 
and  call  his  own.  His  ideal  of  society  he  set 
forth  in  the  phrase,  "The  kingdom  of  God." 
This  ideal  was  not  a  remote,  unearthly  city 
gleaming  in  some  "fair  dawn  beyond  the  gate 
of  death."  It  was  an  institution  to  be  set  up 
on  the  earth.  Though  conceived  in  heaven, 
it  was  to  be  established  on  earth.  Its  inspira- 
tion was  spiritual  but  its  structure  was  to  be 
necessarily  political.  It  was  to  be  eternal  in 
quality  but  of  a  temporal  benefit  to  man. 
The  best  qualified  interpreters  of  Jesus's 
teachings  so  understood  the  meaning  of 
the  "kingdom  of  God."  The  redemption 
of  the  world  into  a  better  social  order  is 
expressed  by  Peter's  phrase  "a  kingdom 
of  priests,"  by  Saint  John's  majestic 
figure  of  "a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,"  by  the 
stately  language  of  Athanasius,  "a  holy 
season  lasting  the  whole  year  round,  a 
temple  confined  only  to  the  hmits  of  the 
86 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

habitable   world,   a   priesthood   coextensive 
with  the  human  race." 

A  further  condition  in  the  Christianizing 
of  society  is  the  hypothetical  virility  of  the 
Christian  religion.  Is  the  Christian  religion 
powerful  enough  to  shape  human  society 
into  a  civilization  distinctively  Christian?  Its 
progress  is  equitable  enough,  its  laws  just 
enough,  its  precepts  idealistic  enough,  its 
divine  authority  is  sufficiently  emphatic  if 
carried  out  to  build  an  ideal  social  organiza- 
tion out  of  human  material.  But  is  the  ideal 
which  was  born  amid  the  hills  of  Galilee 
strong  enough  to  master  human  nature? 
Can  the  Pierced  Hand  rule  this  world?  Can 
the  Voice  that  blessed,  also  command  and  be 
obeyed?  Is  Christianity  as  virile  as  it  is 
holy?  The  Herald  of  Asia,  a  secular  Tokyo 
paper,  which  is  regarded  as  the  semiofficial 
organ  of  the  Mikado's  government,  has  ex- 
pressed its  disappointment  at  Japanese 
Christianity.  "For  the  first  twenty  or  thirty 
years,"  this  journal  says,  "Christianity  was 
highly  respected  though  not  formally  wel- 
comed. .  .  .  The  new  faith  is  losing  its  grip 
on  the  national  mind.  It  is  too  spineless  to 
87 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

command  the  attention  of  a  virile  people  like 
the  Japanese."  This  editorial  merits  consid- 
eration in  that  it  reflects  the  official  attitude 
of  the  most  aggressive  nation  of  the  Orient 
toward  our  faith.  If  it  is  true  that  our  re- 
ligion is  "too  spineless"  to  challenge  the 
interest  of  the  people  in  the  land  of  Nippon, 
there  is  scant  hope  of  its  commanding  the 
allegiance  of  any  people.  From  the  view- 
point of  Christ  the  religious  situation  in 
America  is  but  little  more  encouraging  than 
the  alleged  status  of  Japanese  Christianity. 
Approximately,  one-half  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  are  either  members  of  or 
are  affiliated  with  the  church.  If  these  fifty 
million  Americans  were  in  truth  Christians, 
the  kingdom  of  God  would  be  established 
on  the  western  hemisphere  within  twelve 
months.  But  the  preponderance  of  these 
church  people  are  not  Christians;  numbers 
of  them  bear  not  the  slightest  resemblance  to 
the  Man  of  Galilee.  Light  passing  through 
an  opaque  medium  glows  dimly,  and  the 
hght  of  the  cross  shining  through  our  hu- 
manity is  all  but  dissipated.  The  truth  can- 
not be  evaded  that  Christianity  as  the  major- 
88 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

ity  of  church  members  live  it  is  too  ineffec- 
tual to  shape  society  into  any  real  semblance 
of  a  Christian  civihzation.  No  influence  is 
more  impotent  than  half-hearted  rehgious 
faith.  The  Christian  rehgion  is  powerful 
only  when  it  is  the  supreme  motive  in  the  hf  e 
of  its  adherents.  When  it  occupies  a  subor- 
dinate place  it  is  a  weak  and  futile  thing. 
Unless  its  disciples  seek  first  "the  kingdom 
of  God  and  his  righteousness,"  the  faith 
which  they  profess  makes  little  impression 
on  the  non-professing.  The  Nazarene  im- 
poses a  stern  disciphne  upon  all  who  would 
follow  him.  The  conventional  Christianity 
of  the  church  which  requires  of  the  commu- 
nicants only  donations  and  attendance  upon 
worship  is  a  pale  pretense  of  obeying  the 
words  of  Jesus :  "If  any  man  will  come  after 
me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his 
cross,  and  follow  me."  A  disciple  of  Jesus 
cannot  wield  the  power  of  the  cross  until 
he  has  first  felt  the  weight  of  the  cross.  Not 
until  the  first  converts  left  their  boats  and 
nets  were  they  commissioned  as  fishers  of 
men.  Not  until  Simon  Peter  bowed  before 
the  supremacy  of  the  person  of  Christ  was  he 
89 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

intrusted  with  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Not  until  the  disciples  had  sur- 
rendered their  dreams  of  a  place  in  an  earthly 
kingdom  and  asked  for  the  last  time  the 
question:  "Lord,  wilt  thou  at  this  time 
restore  the  kingdom  of  Israel?"  did  they 
hear  Christ  saying  to  them,  "All  power  is 
given  unto  you  in  heaven  and  on  earth." 
Not  until  the  fiery  pupil  of  Gamahel  had 
surrendered  to  the  Vision  of  the  Damascus 
road,  asking  "What  wilt  thou  have  me  do?" 
was  he  sent  for  as  a  chosen  vessel  to  the 
Gentile  world. 

There  is  not  one  "spineless"  element  in 
the  teachings,  the  discipline,  or  the  nature  of 
the  Founder  of  our  faith.  Men  who  have 
been  most  thoroughly  captivated  by  Jesus 
have  impressed  the  world  by  the  reckless 
heroism  of  their  lives.  Others  "took  knowl- 
edge of  them  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus." 
Christianity  was  not  supine  in  the  days  when 
a  few  Jewish  peasants  defied  the  hostility  of 
their  countrymen  who  sat  in  the  seats  of  the 
mighty.  Christianity  was  something  more 
than  a  harmless  superstition  when  the  sands 
of  the  Roman  arenas  drank  the  blood  of 
90 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

martyrs,  and  the  funeral  flames  of  burning 
Christians  were  the  weird  torches  which 
hghted  Nero's  festival  gardens.  Christian- 
ity was  not  an  inert  sentiment  when  official 
Rome  capitulated  before  the  heralds  of  the 
cross.  Christianity  was  most  formidable  in 
the  days  when  it  suffered  the  severest  per- 
secutions. When  rehgion  is  most  positive  it 
creates  passionate  devotion  or  meets  with 
fierce  opposition.  When  it  is  negative  it  is 
tolerated  or  ignored.  The  phenomenal 
growth  of  early  Christianity  was  mainly  due 
to  three  causes:  (a)  The  zeal  of  the  early 
disciples,  {h)  their  singleness  of  purpose, 
(c)  the  conscious  need  of  the  world  for  spir- 
itual reality.  This  zeal  was  born  of  devotion 
to  the  person  of  Christ ;  the  program  was  to 
win  converts  from  the  pagan  religions;  the 
readiness  of  the  people  to  receive  the  gospel 
arose  from  their  lack  of  any  other  satisfac- 
tory scheme  for  the  present  hfe  or  any 
promise  of  life  in  the  world  to  come. 

If  Christianity  succeeds  in  accomphshing 
the  hitherto  unaccomplished  task  of  perme- 
ating society,  its  champions  will  be  zealots  as 
well  as  interpreters.     The  Christianity  that 
91 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

wins  the  modern  world  must  of  necessity  be 
an  impassioned  religious  crusade.  Not  as 
an  eclectic  philosophy,  or  as  a  tolerated  in- 
stitution of  respectable  society  can  "the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints"  fulfill  its  mis- 
sion in  changing  the  life  of  mankind.  A  pas- 
sionless faith  is  an  impotent  faith.  If 
Christianity  in  modern  times  permeates  the 
life  of  the  people,  it  must  first  be  revitalized. 
Modern  Christianity  needs  to  feel  the  glow 
of  an  inner  flame  to  make  itself  felt.  Only 
one  motive  is  capable  of  supplying  the 
needed  inspiration — a  renewal  of  devotion  to 
the  Christ  who  is  the  same  to-day,  yesterday, 
and  forever.  This  is  the  sole  authoritative 
motive  of  Christian  inspiration.  In  this 
sense  the  Christianity  of  to-day  needs  to  imi- 
tate the  Christianity  of  the  first  century. 
Christianity  as  our  age  knows  it  will  inevit- 
ably fail,  be  it  ever  so  well  organized,  unless 
its  ardor  is  constantly  fed  by  the  presence  of 
Him  who  says  to  men  in  all  ages  who  are 
wiUing  to  listen  to  him:  "Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always."  The  gospel  has  no  power  to  in- 
spire save  in  the  realism  of  the  eternal  Christ. 
Early  Christianity  was  a  proselyting 
92 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

faith.  Its  activity  was  chiefly  expressed  in 
winning  recruits  from  the  pagan  world.  The 
program  of  the  early  church  was  almost  ex- 
clusively individuahstic,  that  is,  to  persuade 
a  person  to  forsake  the  altars  of  pagan 
deities,  acknowledge  the  divinity.  Saviour- 
hood  and  Lordship  of  Jesus,  and  accept  the 
rite  of  baptism.  Groups  of  these  converts 
became  Christian  churches.  The  churches, 
when  first  organized,  had  no  thought  of  at- 
tempting to  reconstruct  the  Roman  empire 
into  a  Christian  civilization.  An  ideal  social 
order  was  contrary  both  to  their  expectation 
and  their  desire.  Their  aim  was  not  to  make 
the  world  a  better  place  in  which  to  live,  but 
to  make  men  better  by  detaching  them  from 
the  world.  Primitive  Christianity  was  not 
primarily  a  social  gospel.  First-century 
Christianity  lived  in  an  age  when  a  slave 
was  the  chattel  of  his  owner,  but  the  litera- 
ture of  the  early  church  contains  no  aboKtion 
sentiments.  On  the  contrary,  we  hear  Paul 
urging  slaves  to  be  in  subjection  to  their 
masters.  This  indifference  to  or  acceptance 
of  social  evils  was  largely  due  to  the  feeling 
among  the  early  Christians  that  the  end  of 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

the  world  was  near,  and  that  there  was  httle 
need  of  trying  to  mend  a  machine  which 
would  soon  fall  to  pieces. 

The  task  of  Christianity  in  our  times, 
though  not  essentially  different  from  the 
task  of  first-century  Christianity,  is  vastly 
more  difficult  and  comprehensive.  The 
dominant  nations  of  the  world  to-day  are 
nominally  Christian  nations.  In  the  most 
enlightened  sections  of  the  modern  world 
theoretical  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  the 
most  influential  people.  The  church  experi- 
ences little  difficulty  in  adding  to  its  mem- 
bership ;  but  the  great  mission  of  Christian- 
ity to-day  is  not  primarily  that  of  increasing 
the  membership  of  the  church.  Social  regen- 
eration is  the  essential  need  of  the  times.  It 
is  certain  that  human  life  will  continue  on 
this  planet  for  innumerable  years  to  come. 
The  end  of  man's  tenure  of  earth  is  too  re- 
mote to  be  imagined.  Few  seriously  believe 
that  it  is  the  divine  plan  to  consume  the 
earth  and  its  inhabitants  in  a  sudden  spectac- 
ular conflagration.  "The  individual  withers, 
but  the  race  is  more  and  more."  As  Chris- 
tianity is  meant  to  include  the  entire  area  of 

94j 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

human  life,  it  is  obviously  within  its  program 
to  improve  all  human  relations,  to  recon- 
struct humanity  into  a  better  society  than 
we  know.  An  interpretation  of  the  rehgion 
of  Christ  which  has  no  social  applications  is 
an  incomplete  interpretation.  Christianity 
will  not  have  finished  its  work  on  earth  until 
human  society  has  been  rebuilt  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  Jesus,  until  the  Golden  Rule  is  sub- 
stituted for  the  rule  of  gold,  and  the  Golden 
Age  succeeds  the  age  of  gold.  The  task 
which  challenges  Christianity  to-day  is  that 
of  making  society  distinctively  Christian 
as  it  has  made  multitudes  of  individuals 
Christlike. 

The  widespread  and  ceaseless  social  tur- 
moil of  our  times  is  a  confession  in  confused 
tongues  by  our  humanity  that  society  as  the 
world  has  always  known  it  has  been  weighed 
in  the  balance  and  found  wanting.  True, 
many  old  demons  have  been  exorcised  from 
society,  but  their  expulsion  has  too  often 
left  the  house  empty.  Christian  social  ideals 
must  replace  these  exorcised  evils,  lest  the 
demons,  returning  with  their  strength  re- 
cruited, take  full  possession  of  the  house  and 

95 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

thus  make  the  social  hfe  of  modern  times 
seven  fold  more  demoniacal  than  before. 
The  modern  world  presents  Christianity 
with  mighty  difficulties,  and  therefore  with 
great  opportunities. 

Human  life  is  suffering  from  a  deep- 
seated  and  malignant  disease,  and  there  is  no 
other  Name  under  heaven  whereby  it  can  be 
saved.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  hope  for  our 
distracted  world.  Personal  piety  is  not 
rooted  in  social  iniquity.  It  is  Christianity 
which  demands  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this 
world.  It  is  Christianity  which  must  make 
men  feel  that  there  is  no  difference  in  the 
highwayman  outside  the  pale  of  the  law  and 
the  robber  within  the  law.  It  is  Christianity 
which  can  make  men  realize  that  their  rela- 
tion to  their  fellow  men  is  an  obhgation, 
rather  than  an  opportunity  for  exploitation. 
It  is  Christianity  which  can  make  men  see 
that  idleness  is  parasitism,  and  that  para- 
sitism is  shameless  dishonesty.  It  is  Chris- 
tianity which  can  make  men  know  that  no 
work  is  of  worth  which  does  not  contribute 
to  the  sum-total  of  human  good.  Christian- 
ity,  and  Christianity  only,   can  build   out 

96 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

of  the  jungle  of  hate,  greed,  and  coarse 
indulgence  a  city  of  refined  taste,  a  city 
of  brotherly  love,  a  city  of  ethical  beauty, 
the  City  of  God.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  World  War  there  were  cynical  stylists 
who  informed  the  race  that  Christianity  had 
collapsed  and  the  church  would  hereafter 
have  merely  a  museum  interest  to  the  man 
of  to-day.  Subsequent  events  have  empha- 
sized the  truth  of  Oscar  Wilde's  definition  of 
the  cynic:  "A  man  who  knows  the  price  of 
everything  and  the  worth  of  nothing."  Since 
the  day  of  Pentecost  the  church,  by  its 
abounding  energy  and  ever-widening  scope 
of  activity,  has  been  defeating  hostile  criti- 
cism, silencing  prophets  of  pessimism,  and 
vindicating  the  wisdom  of  the  just  Gamaliel: 
"Refrain  from  these  men,  and  let  them 
alone:  for  if  this  counsel  or  this  work  be  of 
men,  it  will  come  to  nought :  But  if  it  be  of 
God,  ye  cannot  overthrow  it."  The  death- 
less vitality  of  the  Christian  religion  demon- 
strates that  "the  mystery  of  godliness"  is  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  in  all  ages.  Twentieth- 
century  civilization,  though  displaying  much 
confused  thinking,  distorted  morality,  nause- 
97 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

ous  cant,  and  vulgar  greed,  is  feeling  the 
effect  of  powerful  forces  working  for  right- 
eousness. The  joint  missionary  campaign 
recently  inaugurated  by  the  two  branches 
of  Episcopal  Methodism  in  America  was 
one  of  the  most  far-reaching  and  significant 
movements  in  Christian  history.  The  Cente- 
nary Movement,  with  its  splendid  audacity, 
demanding  of  church  members  the  consecra- 
tion of  wealth  and  life,  was  a  declaration  by 
militant  Methodism  that  the  security  of  the 
homeland  lies  not  in  socialized  Christianity 
but  in  Christianized  society,  that  the  camp 
fires  of  foreign  missions  which  have  been 
bravely  burning  against  the  night  skies  of 
paganism  for  more  than  one  hundred  years 
shall  be  replenished  and  multiplied  until 
every  tongue  has  confessed  and  every  knee 
bowed  to  the  absolute  supremacy  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Inspired  by  the  same  lofty  motives, 
other  churches  are  waging  vigorous  warfare 
against  social  evils  and  building  up  the 
waste  places  at  home  and  abroad.  The  New 
Era  movement  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
the  educational  and  missionary  movements 
in  the  Baptist  denomination,  the  fine  zeal  for 

98 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION 

service  shown  by  organizations  like  the 
Brotherhood  of  Saint  Andrew  in  the  Epis- 
copal Communion  mean  that  the  Church  of 
God  is  seeing  with  clearer  eyes  the  vision  of 
its  opportunities  and  is  seriously  feehng  the 
weight  of  its  world-wide  obligation.  While 
such  enterprises  have  necessarily  moved 
along  the  lines  of  denominational  activity, 
the  spirit  of  good  fellowship  and  helpfulness 
has  waxed  stronger  among  Protestant 
churches.  Whatever  criticism,  merited  or 
unmerited,  of  the  machinery  of  the  lapsed 
Interchurch  Movement,  the  motive  of  this 
effort  was  a  sincere  desire  for  Christian 
unity,  a  worthy  motive  which  will  express  it- 
self again  and  again  until  denominational 
jealousies  shall  be  as  remotely  unthinkable 
as  the  burning  of  witches  and  the  thumb- 
screws of  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  The  hope 
of  the  race  is  in  the  triumph  of  righteousness, 
the  triumph  of  righteousness  is  in  the 
strength  of  the  church,  the  strength  of  the 
church  is  the  abiding  presence  of  Him  in 
whose  companionship  we  feel  our  hearts 
strangely  warmed. 


99 


CHAPTER  VI 

CHRISTIANITY     THE     WAY    OF 
PROGRESS 

Progress  is  a  condition  of  life.  As  such, 
it  is  as  essential  as  it  is  desirable.  Ours  is 
a  progressive  age.  "Forward !"  is  the  watch- 
word. We  live  in  advanced  times;  all  who 
would  not  be  stragglers  must  keep  step  with 
the  onward  movements.  The  world  demands 
that  men  keep  abreast  of  the  times.  Let  the 
devil  take  the  hindermost!  Useless  hinder- 
most  !  The  way  our  fathers  lived  is  too  slow 
to  suit  their  children.  To-day  has  scant 
respect  for  yesterday.  We  are  an  enter- 
prising, inventive,  efficient  people.  Behold 
the  works  of  our  hands  and  brains !  We  have 
made  of  electricity  a  servant  as  Prospero  did 
of  Ariel.  It  hghts  us,  warms  us,  rides  us, 
cooks  for  us,  prints  for  us,  executes  criminals 
for  us.  A  thousand  mechanical  devices  per- 
form the  work  rapidly  and  accurately  which 
brawn  and  muscle  once  did  slowly  and 
crudely.  When  our  forefathers  settled  on 
100 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

this  continent,  the  process  of  demand  and 
supply  was  the  simple  one  of  getting  what 
they  needed  from  the  soil  and  the  forest. 
With  the  vast  increase  of  population  the 
problem  became  exceedingly  complicated; 
but  it  has  been  solved  by  the  system  of  mod- 
ern commerce.  The  size,  intricacy,  com- 
plexity, and  efficiency  of  the  modern  com- 
mercial machine  is  a  marvel.  A  person  may 
dine  on  the  products  of  the  sea  which  he  has 
never  seen,  eat  the  bread  from  fields  which 
he  has  never  tilled,  and  sell  goods  which  he 
has  never  possessed. 

We  have  systematized  and  applied  the 
knowledge  with  which  science  has  furnished 
us.  Biology,  chemistry,  physics,  geology, 
medicine  have  made  our  world  more  intel- 
ligible, human  Hfe  safer  and  more  comfort- 
able, enabled  men  to  walk  the  earth  less  by 
faith  and  more  by  sight,  banished  many  ills 
to  which  the  human  flesh  is  heir,  and  robbed 
the  grave  of  many  a  premature  and  unfair 
victory.  In  short,  the  road  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave  has  been  graded,  lighted, 
smoothed,  and  made  easier  than  the  rough 
way  our  fathers  trod.  Ours  is  a  progressive 
101 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

age.  Who  can  question  it?  Sociology  too 
has  won  its  laurels  in  helping  humanity.  So- 
cial science  has  healed  many  gaping  wounds 
in  the  body  of  society.  Hospitals,  asylums 
reformatories  no  longer  permit  the  unfor- 
tunate to  die  by  the  roadside  or  the  maniac 
to  scream  among  the  tombs.  Despite  a 
World  War  through  which  we  have  recently 
passed,  we  flatter  ourselves  that  the  conduct 
of  the  twentieth-century  individual  is  on  a 
higher  ethical  plane  than  that  of  the  man  of 
a  generation  or  two  ago.  Reforms  have 
moved  forward  on  a  wide  front.  A  number 
of  iniquitous  customs  have  been  outlawed. 
The  saloon  is  a  memory.  Social  respectabil- 
ity has  driven  vice  into  the  byways  and  dark 
alleys.  An  aroused  public  conscience  is  lift- 
ing the  misplaced  burdens  from  the  shoulders 
of  little  children.  Enlightened  public  opin- 
ion demands  compulsory  education,  and 
rightfully  takes  from  irresponsible  parents 
the  power  to  keep  their  offspring  in  ignor- 
ance. Judged  by  statistics  and  financial  re- 
ports, the  race  is  making  wonderful  ethical 
strides.  We  are  an  enlightened,  competent, 
forward-looking  people,  and  we  are  vastly 
log 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

pleased  with  our  achievements.  We  have 
diligently  sought  success  in  the  fields  of  com- 
merce and  physical  science,  and  we  have 
found  it.  We  have  moved  forward  with 
amazing  celerity  along  these  lines.  Our 
achievements  are  all  but  commensurate  with 
our  aspirations.  Verily,  we  have  our  re- 
ward! 

Who  would  maintain  that  the  material 
equipment  of  our  age  is  less  desirable  than 
the  rude  furniture  of  the  past?  We  would 
not  exchange  the  conveniences  and  comforts 
of  to-day  for  the  inconveniences  and  hard- 
ships of  yesterday.  We  prefer  the  electric 
light  to  the  tallow  dip,  railway  trains  to  the 
stagecoach,  the  motor  car  to  saddlebags,  the 
newspaper  to  the  town-crier,  paved  roads  to 
the  mountain  trail.  To  utilize  the  resources 
of  the  earth  is  the  right  and  privilege  of  man. 
"God  giveth  us  all  things  richly  to  enjoy." 
Each  discovery,  each  invention  is  nature 
yielding  her  secrets  to  those  who  knock  at 
her  doors,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
new  marvel  the  future  will  reveal.  Along 
the  way  of  things  desirable  our  civilization 
has  traveled  fast  and  far. 
103 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

In  certain  phases  of  human  conduct  the 
present  has  profited  by  the  mistakes  of  the 
past,  though  our  ethical  progress  is  far  be- 
hind our  material  advancement.  The  appli- 
cation of  social  science  to  economic  malad- 
justments and  vicious  institutions  is  our 
usual  way  of  measuring  our  moral  progress. 
There  is  an  obvious  though  a  doubtless  un- 
conscious tendency  to  estimate  the  value  of 
ethics  in  terms  of  commercial  results.  The 
measure  of  moral  progress  is  no  less  the 
ethical  quality  of  the  motive  by  which  it  is 
inspired  than  the  desirable  physical  results 
achieved.  Men  do  not  gather  figs  of  thistles. 
The  argument  that  prohibition  is  a  good 
business  investment  has  no  higher  moral 
standing  than  the  argument  that  the  saloon 
is  a  good  business  investment.  If  a  hospital 
is  built  solely  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
the  healthy  against  disease  of  which  the  sick 
are  the  foci,  it  is  as  ethical  to  kill  the  sick 
in  some  painless  manner  as  to  segregate 
them  in  isolated  wards.  If  churches  and 
schools  and  beneficent  laws  have  only  a  prac- 
tical value,  they  indicate  material  rather  than 
ethical  progress.  Nevertheless,  a  sane  op- 
104 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

timism  is  justified  in  believing  that  the 
morally  imperative  mood  of  our  age  is  at 
least  partially  responsible  for  good  laws  and 
humane  institutions.  Surely,  a  feeling  that 
intemperance  is  a  wrong  use  of  life  is  a 
deeper  cause  for  a  saloonless  nation  than 
other  considerations.  Surely,  wise  and  mer- 
ciful legal  statutes  are  the  expression  of  a 
real  desire  for  justice  and  kindliness  rather 
than  a  demand  for  expediency.  Surely, 
asylums  and  rescue  homes  are  born  of  pity 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people  rather  than  a  de- 
mand for  self -protection.  If  it  be  true  that 
genuine  altruism  rather  than  disguised  self- 
ishness is  bringing  to  pass  those  things  that 
make  human  life  cleaner,  more  orderly,  bet- 
ter controlled,  more  carefully  conserved,  our 
age,  though  its  most  notable  achievements 
are  material,  still  has  much  ethical  accom- 
plishment to  its  credit. 

Progress,  in  modern  times,  though  it  has 
been  conspicuous  in  many  important  fields, 
is  barely  perceptible  in  others.  The  advance 
has  been  on  an  uneven  front,  and  at  some 
points  there  has  been  no  advance  at  all. 
Judging  by  results,  our  age  pays  scant 
105 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

homage  to  the  culture  of  the  soul,  and  re- 
fuses to  believe  that  religion  is  "the  chief 
concern  of  mortals  here  below."  Many  there 
are  who  consider  the  religious  life  highly  de- 
sirable or  even  important,  but  not  primarily 
essential.  Therein  they  confess  their  gross 
stupidity  and  reveal  a  nature  that  is  of  the 
earth  earthy.  True  religion  has  no  legitimate 
place  in  the  life  of  man  unless  it  be  the  first 
place.  There  is  a  Something  in  human  na- 
ture which  we  call  "The  Soul."  It  is  this 
Something  which  has  driven  man  from  the 
jungles  to  civilization,  and  at  rare  intervals 
has  brought  him  to  what  Carlyle  called  "The 
edge  of  the  Infinite."  When  the  soul's  wings 
are  weakest  man  drops  back  into  the  muck 
and  mire  of  animalism.  The  light  of  re- 
ligious faith  has  never  been  completely  ex- 
tinguished since  the  human  race  began  its 
long  climb  upward.  Occasionally  it  has 
burned  fitfully,  the  storms  have  threatened 
it,  and  at  times  it  has  come  perilously  near  to 
fading  out.  But  in  the  vast  temple  of  hu- 
manity, built  of  meanness  and  magnificence, 
there  have  always  been  vestal  spirits  who 
kept  the  fire  glowing  on  the  altar.  The  tem- 
106 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

pie  of  humanity  shines  in  splendor,  or  is 
shadowed  in  gloom  as  the  light  on  the  altar 
of  religion  is  bright  or  dim.  Man  is  most 
subhme  when  he  is  on  a  spiritual  quest.  The 
paths  that  have  been  made  by  men  who  have 
followed  the  gleam  are  the  world's  truest 
highways.  The  essential  contributions  to 
human  welfare  are  religious  contributions. 
Isaiah,  Saint  John,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Saint 
Francis,  Luther,  Wesley,  represent  the  in- 
dispensable men  of  the  race. 

Religious  progress  is  the  essential  line  of 
progress.  Ibsen  beheved  that  man's  chief 
work  is  his  soul.  The  indispensable  struc- 
ture which  man  builds  is  his  spiritual  edifice. 
All  else  is  scaffolding  which  must  fall  away 
when  its  usefulness  is  ended,  a  temporary 
building  which  has  no  place  in  the  universe 
save  as  a  means  to  an  end.  To  reverse  the 
position  of  the  primary  and  the  secondary 
is  to  disregard  the  logic  of  life  and  incur  the 
penalty  of  hopeless  confusion.  The  wisest 
of  all  teachers  declared  that  it  was  inex- 
cusable folly  to  seek  material  progress  at  the 
expense  of  spiritual  loss.  *'What  doth  At 
profit  a  man,  if  he  gain  the  whole  world 
107 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

and  lose  his  own  soul?"  It  is  man  in  an 
irrational  relation  to  the  universe. 

The  failure  of  the  sum-total  of  modern 
man's  achievements  is  his  phenomenal  suc- 
cess in  acquiring  the  world  and  his  desultory 
interest  in  his  soul.  Our  chief  work  has  not 
been  the  soul.  "At  present  we  all  instinc- 
tively consider  the  work  of  man's  hands  more 
lasting  than  the  man  himself,"  said  William 
Butler  Yeats  in  a  recent  interview,  to  a  rep- 
resentative of  The  New  York  Times:  "Our 
education,  our  political  institutions,  our 
economics,  are  naturally  occupied  with  mak- 
ing the  handiwork  more  efficient.  We  want 
to  make  the  man  a  good  laborer  or  a  good 
clerk  or  a  good  professor  .  .  .  But  establish 
that  the  personality  itself  will  outhve  all  its 
handiwork,  even  though  the  handiwork 
might  have  been  the  pyramids,  the  main  ob- 
ject of  all  politics  and  all  our  economics  will 
be  the  perfection  of  the  personality  itself."^ 

The  progress  of  the  modern  world  lacks 
uniformity.  It  shows  elements  of  strength 
and  elements  of  weakness.  It  has  gone  for- 
ward here  and  retreated  or  marked  time 

^By  permission  of  New  York  Times. 
108 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

there.  Its  area  is  irregular,  its  boundary 
uneven  like  the  map  of  a  country.  True 
progress  is  uniform  expansion  like  the 
widening  of  a  circle  which  retains  its  circular 
identity.  On  the  map  of  modern  civilization 
spiritual  geography  occupies  a  real  but  very 
limited  area.  Our  Gahlees  and  Ohvets  are 
discernible  but  obscure.  Institutions  of  ma- 
terialism have  monopolized  human  interest. 
Commercial  acumen  is  a  quality  which  finds 
a  readier  market  than  the  vision  of  the 
prophet.  The  promise  of  loaves  and  fishes 
receives  greater  consideration  than  the  warn- 
ing that  man  cannot  hve  by  bread  alone. 
The  luxury  which  wealth  gives  seems  more 
desirable  than  the  peace  which  the  world  can- 
not give.  Had  our  spiritual  life  kept  pace 
with  our  material  advancement,  the  attend- 
ant sorrows  of  the  war  would  not  have 
caused  bewildered  men  and  distracted 
women  to  commit  the  pitiful  folly  of  seeking 
solace  for  gi*ief  in  the  shallows  of  necro- 
mancy. 

The  popularity  of  the  ouija  board  was  a 
shameless  confession  of  our  spiritual  pov- 
erty.   The  recent  epidemic  of  spiritualism  in 
109 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

England  and  America  was  the  distressing 
spectacle  of  human  nature  in  desperate  need 
of  the  support  of  spiritual  religion,  yet  un- 
equipped with  religious  experience — a  con- 
dition which  either  drives  man  into  the 
swamps  of  animal  excesses  or  sends  him  into 
a  mental  wilderness  in  quest  of  some  will-o'- 
the  wisp  of  superstition.  For  the  modern  man, 
the  World  War  was  Gethsemane  without 
the  strengthening  presence  of  the  angel  of 
God. 

The  world  of  to-day  is  filled  with  commer- 
cial giants  and  spiritual  pigmies.  "The  fore- 
going generations,"  wrote  Emerson  in  words 
that  are  as  applicable  to  our  times  as  to  his, 
"beheld  God  and  nature  face  to  face;  we 
through  their  eyes.  Why  should  not  we  also 
enjoy  an  original  relation  to  the  universe? 
Why  should  we  not  have  a  poetry  and  a 
philosophy  of  insight  instead  of  traditions, 
and  religion  by  revelation  to  us  and  not  the 
history  of  theirs?  Why  should  we  grope 
among  the  dry  bones  of  its  faded  wardrobe?" 
Why  not,  indeed  ?  Why  not  for  man  to-day 
an  "original  relation  to  the  universe"  as  well 
as  for  the  author  of  the  fourth  Gospel?  Why 
110 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

not  for  twentieth-century  America  a  religion 
of  revelation  as  well  as  for  first-century  Gal- 
ilee ?  Why  not  for  the  seeker  of  truth  to-day 
an  experience  as  vivid  and  compelHng  as 
that  which  befell  the  man  of  Tarsus?  God 
does  not  confine  himself  to  one  group,  nor 
limit  his  activities  to  one  historical  epoch. 
The  elect  of  God  are  those  who  elect  to  seek 
God  if  haply  they  may  find  him.  The  chosen 
people  have  always  been  those  people  whose 
first  choice  was  God.  Pentecosts  are  for 
those  who  anywhere  and  at  any  time  are  will- 
ing to  wait  until  power  is  given  them  from 
on  high.  What  a  luminous  era  our  age 
might  have  been,  if,  as  the  heirs  of  all  the 
ages,  our  chief  pursuit  had  been  after  spir- 
itual riches.  Had  we  been  true  to  our 
spiritual  heritage  we  would  know  more  to- 
day of  the  meaning  of  God  in  Christ  than 
the  disciples  who  followed  him  in  the  days  of 
his  flesh.  It  was  our  privilege  to  have  known 
the  meaning  of  his  words,  "Greater  works 
than  these  shall  you  do,  because  I  go  to  my 
Father."  What  signals  might  have  been 
flashing  from  the  Jerusalem  which  is  above ! 
What  profound  openings  into  the  mystery 
111 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

of  life  and  death  might  have  been  vouch- 
safed us!  What  transfigurations  we  might 
have  beheld!  Our  human  pilgrimage  in- 
stead of  being  so  much  of  the  j  ourney  a  Via 
Dolorosa  might  have  been  an  Emmaus  way, 
where  our  hearts  burned  within  us  through 
the  consciousness  of  the  mystic  presence 
which  hallows  the  universe.  If  we  had  given 
the  consideration  to  the  kingdom  within 
which  we  have  bestowed  upon  the  kingdom 
without,  even  in  these  far-off  days  the  heart 
of  man  could  say: 

"But  warm,  sweet,  tender,  even  jet 
A  present  help  is  He, 
And  faith  hath  yet  its  Olivet, 
And  love  its  Galilee. 

*'The  healing  of  the  seamless  dress 
Is  by  our  beds  of  pain; 
We  touch  Him  in  life's  throng  and  press, 
And  we  are  whole  again." 

Christianity,  social  or  individual,  demands 
symmetrical  development.  The  gospel  of  the 
Galilaean  issues  orders  to  advance  simulta- 
neously on  all  fronts.  By  this  test,  our 
boasted  modern  civilization,  though  not  anti- 
Christian,  is  at  best  sub-Christian,  a  civiliza- 
112 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

tion  whose  material  achievements  are  out  of 
all  proportion  to  its  spiritual  development. 
While  medical  science  has  traveled  far  be- 
yond Hippocrates  and  Galen;  while  astron- 
omy has  widened  the  skies  of  Gahleo;  while 
the  statutory  laws  have  banished  many  social 
evils ;  while  chemistry  and  physics  have  made 
the  lore  of  Middle  Ages  appear  as  crude 
guesses,  the  twentieth-century  preacher  is 
still  the  pupil  of  the  first-century  apostle. 
ISTo  subsequent  treatise  on  Christian  theology 
is  in  any  degree  comparable  in  spiritual  ap- 
preciation to  the  Pauline  Epistles.  Saint 
Paul  has  no  successor  of  equal  magnitude.  A 
handful  of  Jews  are  the  spiritual  teachers  of 
twenty  centuries.  After  the  passing  of  two 
thousand  years  the  best  that  Christian  the- 
ology has  done  is  to  try  to  explain  what  the 
first  disciples  thought  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
Historically  this  was  to  be  expected  but  not 
experientially.  A  fact  may  be  located  in 
time  but  the  experiences,  implications,  and 
applications  of  the  fact  are  timeless.  A 
historic  revelation  of  God  does  not  postulate 
a  Deity  whose  principal  interest  and  activity 
are  in  the  past.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  dynamic, 
113 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

not  static.  A  continuous  and  progressive 
revelation  is  for  those  who  have  eyes  to  see 
and  wills  to  know. 

Dr.  Tyrrell,  in  his  very  suggestive  book 
Christianity  at  the  Cross-Roads/  argues  that 
"we  forget  that  every  new  comfort  is  a  new 
necessity,  a  new  source  of  discontent  and  un- 
happiness,  and  leaves  the  relative  proportion 
of  happiness  and  misery  unaffected."  Ex- 
pelled at  one  place,  the  tide  of  sorrow  breaks 
through  in  another;  eoopellas  furca  tamen 
usque  recurret.  Shall  progress  ever  wipe 
away  the  tears  from  all  eyes?  Can  it  ever 
extinguish  love,  heal  pride,  tame  ambition, 
and  all  their  attendant  woes?  It  is  not 
enough  to  give  a  man  bread  for  his  body  and 
knowledge  for  his  mind.  Prolong  life  as  we 
may,  can  progress  conquer  death?  And 
even  given  the  attainment  of  its  facile 
dreams,  can  progress  postpone  the  day  when 
mankind  shall  be  blotted  off  the  face  of  the 
universe  that  will  go  its  way  as  if  he  had 
never  been? 

What  justification  is  there  for  progress 
which   is   merely   utilitarian?      If  progress 

1  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  Publishers. 
114 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

means  the  increase  of  humanitarianism  and 
the  growth  of  science,  at  best  it  serves  but  as 
the  palhative  of  a  human  sorrow  which  it 
cannot  diminish.  When  hmited  to  the  sphere 
of  the  practical,  progress  is  the  great  illusion 
of  human  life.  The  soul  of  man  cries  out  for 
the  bread  of  life,  and  a  practical  progress 
feeds  him  the  stones  of  physical  achieve- 
ments. Christianity  is  the  only  complete 
definition  of  progress.  True  progress  is 
Christian  growth.  Our  civilization  is  in  the 
testing.  It  has  but  to  continue  in  the  way  in 
which  it  is  going  to  become  diminishingly 
Christian.  To  become  increasingly  Chris- 
tian a  radical  change  of  course  is  obligatory. 
We  must  be  born  again!  It  is  imperative 
that  we  transfer  our  energies  from  the  ma- 
terial to  the  spiritual  side  of  life  and  em- 
phasize those  things  which  we  have  too  long 
neglected  and  leave  to  a  subordinate  place 
those  interests  which  have  monopolized  our 
attention.  The  world  has  been  too  much 
with  us.  If  during  the  next  decade  man 
could  be  persuaded  to  spend  less  time  in 
physical  laboratories  and  more  time  in  the 
contemplation  of  the  hidden  beauties  of  na- 
115 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

ture,  less  time  with  the  crowds  and  more  with 
himself,  less  time  with  machinery  and  more 
time  under  the  stars,  less  time  in  physical 
equipment  and  more  in  the  culture  of  the 
soul,  less  time  with  the  world  and  more  time 
with  God,  less  time  in  the  courts  of  Mammon 
and  more  at  the  feet  of  the  Great  Teacher, 
less  time  in  manual  dexterity  and  more  in 
prayer,  then  indeed  would  we  have  a  record 
of  progress  of  which  the  modern  world 
might  justly  boast.  We  have  experimented 
with  everything  except  Christianity.  We 
have  exhibited  every  ideal  save  the  Christian 
ideal.  We  have  obeyed  every  master  save 
the  Master  of  right  living.  The  time  is  at 
hand  when  we  must  heed  him,  or  forfeit  our 
spiritual  birthright.    Then: 

"Hushed  be  the  noise  and  strife  of  the  schools. 
Volume  and  pamphlet,  sermon  and  speech. 
The  lips  of  the  wise  and  the  prattle  of  fools — 
Let  the  Son  of  Man  teach ! 

"Who  has  the  key  to  the  future  but  He  ? 
Who  can  unravel  the  knots  in  the  skein? 
We  have  groaned  and  have  travailed  and  sought 
to  be  free. 
We  have  travailed  in  vain. 

116 


THE  WAY  OF  PROGRESS 

"Bewildered,  dejected  and  prone  to  despair, 
To  Him  as  at  first  we  turn  and  beseech : 
Our  ears  are  all  open !   Give  heed  to  our  prayer ! 
Oh,  Son  of  Man,  teach  !"i 


1  "The  School  of  Christ,"  by  William  F.  McDowell.     By 
permission  of  the  Fleming  H.  Revell  Publishing  Company. 


in 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  DIVIlSrE  RIGHT  OF 
THE    CHURCH 

The  term  "Christian  civilization"  has 
not  been  employed  in  this  discussion  as  a 
synonym  of  a  perfect  state  of  society,  but  an 
expression  of  a  condition  of  society  which  as 
a  whole  is  more  largely  controlled  by  Chris- 
tian ideals  than  by  other  influences.  As 
such,  a  Christian  civilization  would  be  the  su- 
preme achievement  of  humanity.  Should 
the  twentieth  century  become  Christian  to 
the  same  degree  that  the  Jews  under  the 
judges  sought  to  obey  Jehovah's  will,  or  that 
the  age  of  Pericles  was  artistic,  or  the  era  of 
the  Csesars  imperialistic,  the  accomplish- 
ment would  be  man's  utmost  triumph.  It 
would  eclipse  the  most  glorious  periods  in  all 
the  annals  of  the  peoples  of  the  earth.  The 
twentieth  century  as  a  Christian  civilization 
would  be  the  Golden  Age  of  history. 

Under  the  scepter  of  the  Christian  civili- 
118 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

zation  people's  habits  would  be  altered  and 
their  attitude  towards  life  reversed.  Indus- 
trial warfare  would  be  impossible,  pubHc 
officials  would  regard  their  oath  of  office  as 
sacramental,  profiteering  would  be  un- 
known, pubHc  amusement  would  be  free  of 
vulgarity,  the  ethics  of  the  business  world 
would  not  permit  of  exploitation  by  unrea- 
sonable profits,  people  would  seek  to  learn 
the  will  of  heaven  more  than  the  decalogue 
of  mode,  the  non-churchman  and  the  nominal 
churchman  would  be  regarded  as  suspicious 
characters.  What  a  strange,  new  world  this 
would  be !  Most  of  us  would  fit  awkwardly 
into  it,  as  the  man  in  the  parable  who  went  to 
the  wedding  supper  without  a  wedding  gar- 
ment. The  Christianity  of  our,  age  is  little 
more  than  a  thin  veneer,  crude  human  nature 
covered  with  the  varnish  of  Christian  tradi- 
tions. 

And  yet  a  Christian  civilization  is  by  no 
means  inconceivable.  Why  should  it  be  un- 
workable? Jesus  dreamed  of  such  a  racial 
achievement  when  He  spoke  of  drawing  all 
men  unto  himself.  Why  should  it  be  thought 
a  thing  impossible  that  one  age  might  be- 
119 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

come  as  peculiarly  Christian  as  others  have 
been  literary,  or  scientific,  or  commercial. 
Why  may  not  the  spiritual  in  man  predomi- 
nate as  the  intellectual,  political,  or  decora- 
tive has  done?  In  individuals  the  spiritual 
has  frequently  been  uppermost,  why  not  in 
groups?  There  is  as  much  potential  divinity 
in  humanity  as  there  are  other  elements. 

By  what  means  can  a  possible  Christian 
civilization  be  brought  to  pass?  It  will  not' 
arrive  suddenly,  nor  be  ushered  in  by  some 
unusual  or  spectacular  display  of  supernat- 
ural power.  Jesus  taught  that  the  growth  of 
his  kingdom  would  be  gradual,  almost  im- 
perceptible, hke  that  of  vegetation:  "First 
the  seed,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in 
the  ear."  When  the  people  demanded  of 
him  a  sign  from  heaven.  He  refused  the  re- 
quest and  answered  with  a  rebuke.  "A 
wicked  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh 
after  a  sign.  .  .  .  No  sign  shall  be  given 
you."  Men  are  not  made  better  by  being 
spectators  of  the  marvelous.  Many  who 
witnessed  the  miracles  of  Jesus  were  not  re- 
deemed. Thousands  ate  the  bread  which  he 
miraculously  supplied,  and  then  went  back 
120 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

and  walked  no  more  with  him.  Nicodemus 
was  impressed,  but  not  converted.  Others 
who  could  not  deny  what  they  saw  said  that 
Jesus  was  in  league  with  Beelzebub.  When 
a  sorcerer  saw  Peter  performing  miracles  of 
healing,  the  necromancer  was  not  redeemed, 
but  evinced  a  keen  interest  in  the  apostle's 
gifts  from  a  commercial  motive.  In  the 
parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  the  Master 
declared  that  the  miraculous  was  of  little 
value  as  a  convincing  argument,  that  even  a 
phenomenon  as  startling  as  a  man  risen  from 
the  dead  would  not  alter  the  stubborn  will  of 
man.  Men  are  not  redeemed  by  witness- 
ing inexphcable  phenomena.  Regeneration 
means  other  than  the  gratifying  of  stimulated 
curiosity.  Herbert  Spencer  said  that  ideas 
do  not  govern  or  overthrow  the  world,  but 
that  "The  world  is  governed  or  overthrown 
by  feelings  to  which  ideas  serve  only  as 
guides."  This  is  a  literal  contradiction  of 
his  own  logic;  the  guide  is  obviously  more 
responsible  for  the  consequences  than  the 
impulse  which  demands  guidance.  With  a 
deeper  insight  Emerson  wrote,  "The  key  to 
every  man  is  his  thought."  Quinet  stated 
121 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

that  his  chief  object  in  writing  his  Genie  des 
Religions  was  to  show  "how  entirely  each  of 
the  civilizations  was  the  offspring  of  a  re- 
ligious dogma."  "If  you  wish  to  alter  the 
destiny  of  a  people,"  declared  Pere  Felix,  a 
great  French  preacher,  "y^^  have  only  to 
alter  its  ideas."  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his 
heart  so  is  he !  If  our  age  is  to  see  the  birth 
of  a  Christian  civilization,  it  will  be  the  reign 
of  certain  ideas.  Christian  education  is  the 
sine  qua  non  of  a  Christian  civilization.  But 
ideas  which  rule  master  while  they  educate. 
A  compelling  force  inspires  as  well  as  in- 
structs. 

Is  there  an  existing  institution  capable  of 
both  instruction  and  inspiration?  Truth  re- 
quires an  objective  agent.  What  will  be  the 
agent  of  a  possible  Christian  civihzation? 
In  the  past  great  men  have  been  the  agents 
of  truth.  God  is  cautious;  he  shares  his 
secrets  with  those  who  value  them.  God 
introduces  himself  to  the  race  through  the 
medium  of  great  personalities.  When  truth 
takes  possession  of  a  group  an  institution  is 
born.  The  institution  carries  out  the  ideas 
transmitted  to  it  through  the  individual. 
122 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

The  record  of  an  institution  is,  as  Lamartine 
said  of  history,  "Neither  more  nor  less  than 
biography  on  a  large  scale."  It  may  right- 
fully be  said  that  God  delegates  institutions 
to  work  out  the  plans  which  he  has  given  to 
the  race  through  exceptional  persons.  If  a 
Christian  civihzation  is  to  be,  its  agent  will 
be  an  institution. 

What  institution  is  quahfied  for  the  task 
of  Christianizing  the  modern  world?  Is 
there  in  the  world  to-day  a  single  institution 
carrying  with  it  sufficient  force,  authority, 
and  historical  significance  to  be  the  builder 
of  a  civilization  ruled  by  the  ideas  of  Jesus 
Christ?  In  his  introduction  to  the  French 
Revolution  Carlyle  pauses  to  pay  his  tribute 
of  respect  and  reverence  to  the  church:  "Ob- 
serve that  of  man's  whole  terrestrial  posses- 
sions and  attainments,  unspeakably  the 
noblest  are  his  symbols,  divine  or  divine- 
seeming,  under  which  he  marches  and  fights 
with  victorious  assurance  in  the  life  battle; 
what  we  call  his  Reahzed  Ideals.  Of  which 
reahzed  Ideals,  omitting  the  rest,  consider 
only  these  two:  his  church  or  spiritual  Guid- 
ance; his  kingship,  or  temporal  one.  The 
123 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

church !  What  a  word  was  there ;  richer  than 
Golconda  and  the  treasures  of  the  world! 
In  the  heart  of  the  remotest  mountains  rises 
the  little  kirk;  the  Dead  all  slumbering 
round  it,  under  their  white  memorial  stones, 
in  hope  of  a  happy  resurrection :  — dull  wert 
thou,  O  Reader,  if  never  in  any  hour — say 
of  moaning  midnight,  when  such  a  kirk  hung 
spectral  in  the  sky,  and  Being  was  as  if  swal- 
lowed up  of  Darkness — it  spake  to  the 
things  unspeakable,  that  went  to  thy  soul's 
soul.  Strong  was  he  that  had  a  church,  what 
we  call  a  church :  he  stood  thereby  though  in 
the  center  of  Immensities,  in  the  conflux  of 
eternities,  yet  noble  toward  God  and  man; 
the  vague,  shoreless  universe  had  become  for 
him  a  firm  city,  and  dwelling  which  he  knew. 
Well  might  men  prize  their  Credo,  and  raise 
stateliest  temples  for  it,  and  reverenced 
Hierarchies,  and  give  the  tithe  of  their  sub- 
stance; it  is  worth  living  for  and  dying  for." 
The  church  is  the  officially  appointed  and 
divinely  ordained  commissioner  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  In  the  sixteenth  chapter  of 
Saint  Matthew  is  the  record  not  of  pontifi- 
cal spiritual  authority  bestowed  upon  a  per- 
ish 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

son,  but  of  the  church's  divine  commission: 
"He  saith  unto  them,  But  whom  say  ye  that 
I  am?  And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said, 
Thou  art  the  Christ  the  Son  of  the  hving 
God.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto 
him.  Blessed  art  thou  Simon  Bar-jona;  for 
flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee, 
but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  And  I 
say  unto  thee,  That  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon 
this  rock  I  will  build  my  church;  and  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
The  historical  significance  of  the  Christian 
Church  is  tremendously  impressive.  Its 
historical  origin  is  as  definite  as  it  is  majes- 
tic; it  begins  with  God  manifesting  himself 
in  a  historical  character,  Jesus  of  Nazereth. 
"For  unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of 
David,  a  Saviour  which  is  Christ  the  Lord." 
The  church  was  born  of  a  union  of  heaven 
with  earth  at  a  given  date,  and  in  a  geo- 
graphical place.  By  contact  with  earth  and 
time,  its  origin  is  rescued  from  the  mists  of 
the  indefinite.  It  is  not  the  fruit  of  great 
men's  thought  and  dreams  like  Buddhism. 
Its  conception  is  divine;  its  founder  said,  "I 
and  the  Father  are  one."  The  church  is  his- 
125 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

torically  qualified  as  the  maker  of  Christian 
civilization. 

The  broad  inclusiveness  of  the  church 
makes  its  possible  membership  coextensive 
with  humanity.  Its  Founder  was  a  Jew,  but 
the  church  knows  no  racial  limits.  Its  birth- 
place was  amid  the  Palestinian  hills,  but  the 
church  transcends  all  national  and  geo- 
graphical boundaries.  Its  temples  lift  their 
spires  under  all  skies ;  its  faith  is  confessed  in 
every  tongue.  Its  birthday  is  in  the  first 
century,  but  its  anniversaries  are  without 
end.  The  scope  of  its  discipleship  is  un- 
limited. What  other  institution  has  a  pro- 
gram as  broad  and  as  inspiring  as  the  com- 
mission: "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  make 
disciples  of  all  nations  .  .  .  "?  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  one  universal  Man,  and  his  church  the 
one  universal  institution.  The  world  is  the 
parish  of  the  church. 

The  Church  of  Christ  is  as  democratic  as 
it  is  comprehensive.  The  doors  are  open  to 
all,  but  each  must  enter  through  some  one 
door.  There  is  no  private  entrance  into  the 
church.  "He  that  entereth  not  in  at  the 
door,  the  same  is  a  thief  and  a  robber."  "I 
126 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

am  the  door."  Over  each  door  leading  into 
the  church  is  the  invisible  inscription:  "There 
is  no  other  name  under  heaven  whereby  we 
must  be  saved." 

The  vitahty  of  the  church  springs  from  a 
source  of  perpetual  life.  The  church  is  not 
a  memorial  to  Jesus  Christ.  A  memorial 
perpetuates  the  memory  of  the  dead.  The 
church  is  not  a  monument  sacred  to  the 
memory  of  a  dead  Christ.  Membership  in 
the  church  is  not  an  expression  for  a  grave 
"in  a  lone  Syrian  town,"  but  allegiance  to  a 
living  person,  "One  Jesus,  whom  Paul  af- 
firmed to  be  ahve."  The  church  is  not  a 
society  existing  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
learning  what  a  great  Teacher  once  said,  but 
a  school  for  learning  what  that  Teacher  is 
saying  to-day.  It  is  not  an  organization 
formed  around  an  abstract  idea,  but  an  or- 
ganism fed  from  living  ideas.  The  motive 
for  its  achievements  is  not  conquest  for  the 
pride  of  conquest,  but  devotion  to  a  Person. 
All  results  are  the  fruits  of  its  personal  in- 
spiration: "Lovest  thou  me?  .  .  .  Feed  my 
sheep." 

The  church  has  a  unique  place  in  history 
127 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

as  the  peculiar  creation  of  Jesus.  It  is  the 
sole  institution  for  which  he  is  directly  re- 
sponsible. He  rendered  to  Cgesar  the  things 
that  were  Caesar's,  but  he  is  not  the  creator 
of  the  state.  He  talked  with  and  listened  to 
the  doctors,  but  schools  existed  long  before 
his  day.  He  sanctified  marriage  and  blessed 
the  home,  but  he  is  not  the  founder  of  the 
home.  The  church  is  uniquely  and  exclu- 
sively Christian  in  its  origin.  In  the  beauti- 
ful metaphor  "The  Bride  of  Christ,"  Paul 
expresses  Christ's  exclusive  proprietorship 
of  the  church.  It  is  the  only  institution  to 
which  Christ  applied  the  possessive  pronoun. 
He  declared,  "I  will  build  my  church."  The 
church  is  nonexistent  unless  it  is  exclusively 
Christian.  The  most  convincing  evidence  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  the  world  is  the  church. 
When  Jesus  departed  from  the  world 
he  left  orders  to  build  a  Christian  civilization 
on  this  earth,  and  the  sole  agency  which  he 
left  to  accomplish  this  end  was  the  church. 
"I  will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  If  the 
sublime  temple  of  a  Christian  civilization 
ever  adorns  the  earth,  the  church  will  be  its 
128 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

architect  and  builder.  Doubtless  there  are 
genuine  Christians  outside  the  pale  of  the 
mihtant  church,  persons  who  through  en- 
vironment, training,  temperament,  or  acci- 
dent are  not  communicants  of  Christian 
bodies  but  who  are  earnestly  following  out 
the  words  of  Jesus,  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth, 
and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  But  un- 
less there  are  more  churchmen  who  are 
Christians  than  there  are  Christians  who  are 
nonchurchmen,  the  church  is  in  an  embar- 
rassing defensive  position.  Nor  is  the 
churchless  Christian  more  justified  in  hold- 
ing aloof  from  the  church  than  is  the  Chris- 
tian churchman  in  assuming  sole  proprietor- 
ship of  all  Christian  truth  and  goodness. 
Logically,  the  terms  "Christian"  and 
"churchman"  should  not  have  essentially  dif- 
ferent meanings.  To  believe  in  Christianity 
and  not  believe  in  the  church  is  similar  to 
believing  in  good  citizenship  without  a  gov- 
ernment. 

If  the  church  fulfills  its  mission  in  Chris- 
tianizing human  society,  it  must  needs  em- 
phasize the  essentials  of  its  commission,  and 
throw  away  the  incumbrances  with  which  the 
129 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

errors  and  blindness  of  men  have  loaded  it. 
It  must  gird  on  the  whole  armor  of  faith  and 
lay  aside  every  weight  that  impedes  it.  A 
catalogue  of  the  positive  and  negative  needs 
of  the  church  would  be  an  immeasurable  list. 
But  there  are  some  changes  in  the  church 
which  are  compelling  and  immediate.  For 
once  and  all  the  church  must  cast  aside  the 
worldly  measurements  of  success.  Jesus  con- 
stantly taught  that  the  standards  of  success 
in  his  kingdom  were  not  those  of  the  world. 
Whenever  the  church  has  forgotten  these 
things  it  has  invariably  suffered  as  a  spiritual 
power. 

The  restoration  of  the  church  to  its  ancient 
dignity  is  of  utmost  necessity.  The  church 
is  not  a  mendicant  supported  by  almsgiving. 
Communicants  should  be  made  to  feel  that 
their  financial  support  of  the  church  is  the 
sanest  investment  that  they  can  possibly 
make.  The  rightful  dignity  of  the  church  is 
likewise  lowered  when  it  becomes  a  syco- 
phant, begging  for  members.  The  church 
should  open  its  doors  to  all  who  willingly  ac- 
cept the  conditions  of  membership,  but  it 
should  cease  to  be  a  beggar  for  recruits. 
130 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

Sycophancy  is  never  so  repugnant  as  when 
wearing  the  robes  of  rehgion.  Jesus  invited 
men  to  follow  him,  but  he  never  bowed  to 
any  man  in  order  to  make  a  disciple.  There 
was  one  who  voluntarily  offered  to  follow 
him  whithersoever  he  would  go,  but  Jesus 
deliberately  scared  him  away  with  a  gloomy 
picture.  Jesus  knocks  at  the  doors  of  human 
hearts,  but  he  never  forces  himself  within. 
Men  should  not  be  permitted  to  think  that 
they  are  bestowing  an  honor  on  the  church 
when  they  take  its  vows.  Church  member- 
ship is  a  privilege  conferred,  not  a  favor 
granted.  "We  have  exchanged,"  said  Bishop 
Henry  C.  Potter,  "the  Washingtonian  dig- 
nity for  the  Jeffersonian  simplicity,  which 
was  in  truth  only  another  name  for  the  Jeffer- 
sonian vulgarity.'"  A  similar  criticism  may 
justly  be  made  of  some  churches.  We  have 
exchanged  cathedral  dignity  for  clubhouse 
informality,  which  is  only  another  name  for 
irreverence.  Men  are  not  impressed  by  a 
religion  whose  institutions  are  unimpressive. 


^From  an  address  at  Washington  Centennial  Service  in 
Saint  Paul's  Chapel,  New  York,  April  30,  1889.  By  permis- 
sion of  Little,  Brown  &  Company. 

131 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

A  revival  of  religion  in  the  world  would  be 
promoted  by  a  revival  of  reverence  in  the 
church.  Reverence  is  the  rightful  attitude 
of  the  human  towards  the  divine. 

Between  the  church  and  the  world  a  dis- 
tinct line  needs  to  be  drawn.  Until  society 
is  Christian  the  position  of  the  church  in  the 
world  is,  "The  church  of  God  in  Corinth," 
and  not  the  Corinthian  church.  This  line 
must  not  be  obliterated  by  the  church  taking 
on  the  color  of  the  world  as  the  salamander 
assumes  the  color  of  the  object  on  which  it 
rests,  but  only  as  society  tends  to  grow  more 
Christlike.  Jesus  told  his  disciples  that  they 
were  different.  "They  are  not  of  the  world, 
as  I  am  not  of  the  world."  This  is  not  an 
unpractical  attitude.  James  wrote  his  epistle 
to  serve  as  a  practical  guide  to  conduct,  but 
he  is  careful  to  define  religion  as  a  duty  to 
the  fatherless  and  widows,  and  a  strict  obli- 
gation of  keeping  oneself  "unspotted  from 
the  world."  The  church  has  lost  more  influ- 
ence from  its  laxity  than  from  its  blue  laws. 
Men  respect  and  reverence  an  ideal  which 
demands  self-abnegation.  "What  do  ye 
more  than  others?"  is  a  question  which  the 
1S2 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

membership  of  the  church  cannot  hghtly  ig- 
nore. "What  Christianity,"  wrote  the  great 
German  preacher  Christheb,  "in  her  antag- 
onism with  every  form  of  unbehef  most 
needs  is  holy  living."  Holy  living  within 
the  church  will  go  further  toward  purifying 
the  social  life  of  the  world  than  all  legislative 
reforms  enacted  in  the  parliaments  of  men. 
The  regeneration  of  the  church  will  be  the 
cleansing  of  the  foundation  which  will  purify 
all  the  streams  of  human  society. 

"O,  for  a  living  faith  in  a  living  Re- 
deemer!" cried  Richard  Fuller.  The  church 
in  our  day  is  not  a  house  "left  desolate,"  it  is 
an  unhappy  house  in  which  can  be  heard  the 
suppressed  cries :  "O,  for  the  recovery  of  a 
lost  Hope !  O,  for  a  bright  gleam  of  a  fading 
Faith!  O,  for  a  renewed  acquaintance  with 
the  forgotten  Christ !"  The  most  compelHng 
need  of  the  modern  church  is  a  return  to  the 
apostolic  faith  in  Christ  and  the  recovery  of 
a  lost  vision  for  the  realities  of  the  unseen 
world.  Who  can  question  the  truth  of  Dr. 
Lyman  Abbott's  statement  that  "The  hope 
of  the  church  is  a  return  to  the  mystical  faith 
of  Paul  in  the  invisible  world  of  the  spirit, 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

and  the  passionate  devotion  of  Paul  for  the 
unseen  Christ."  Historical  research  has  ac- 
knowledged the  unique  place  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  in  the  annals  of  the  race,  art  has 
portrayed  the  Son  of  Mary  as  the  "fairest 
among  ten  thousand  and  the  One  altogether 
lovely" ;  ethics  has  bowed  to  the  Man  of  Gal- 
ilee as  the  wisest  teacher  of  morals ;  the  wis- 
dom of  the  world  has  theoretically  recog- 
nized his  supremacy  and  said,  "Never  man 
spake  as  this  Man";  the  science  of  human 
relationships  admits  the  beneficent  influence 
of  the  Nazarene  upon  political  and  economic 
institutions;  idealism  concedes  to  the  Man 
of  Sorrows  the  first  place  on  the  roll  of  he- 
roes and  martyrs;  but  the  Christ  of  to-day 
is  One  who  is  seen  against  the  background 
of  the  past  or  known  impersonally  by  the 
proxy  of  his  influence  upon  our  civilization. 
Scientific  research  and  philosophical  spec- 
ulation have  been  unable  to  dethrone  Jesus. 
Intellectual  pride  has  admitted  his  unique 
relation  to  God  and  confessed:  "Surely  this 
man  was  the  Son  of  God."  Doctrinal  falh- 
bility  is  not  the  sin  of  the  church.  On  the 
whole,  Christian  theology  is  in  intellectual 
134 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

accord  v/ith  Peter's  confession  at  Caesarea 
Philippi:  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God!"  Altars  to  strange  gods 
have  rarely  been  set  up  by  ecclesiastical 
Christianity.  Intellectual  loyalty  to  the  Son 
of  God  has  been  the  sheet-anchor  of  the 
church  in  the  days  when  science  was  deifying 
physical  laws.  The  faith  of  our  fathers  has 
been  little  affected  by  cults  which  have 
grown  up  about  imaginary  divinities. 
Count  Zinzendorf,  when  a  lad  of  ten  years, 
listening  to  a  learned  discussion  at  his  grand- 
father's table  on  first  causes,  cried:  "Even  if 
they  do  discover  other  gods,  I  am  for  Herr 
Jesus."  The  church  has  tenaciously  held  to 
this  attitude  when  science  has  sneered  and 
philosophy  questioned.  But  the  intellectual 
assent  to  Christian  doctrine  cannot  meet  the 
necessity  of  mystic  communion  with  a  Divine 
Companion.  The  immediate  and  compelhng 
obligation  of  the  church  to  our  age  is  ex- 
pressed by  Dr.  Joseph  Fort  Newton  in  a 
luminous  sentence  in  his  volume.  The  Eter- 
nal Christ:  "Here  is  the  message  of  the 
church — to  make  the  Eternal  Christ  real 
and  eloquent  to  men — and  by  the  sign  it  will 
135 


THE  UNTRIED  CIVILIZATION 

conquer.'"  More  than  all  besides  the  church 
in  the  twentieth  century  needs  an  experience 
which  will  enable  it  to  say,  "And  Christ 
stood  in  the  midst." 

Lord  Jesus,  if  in  these  far-oif  days, 
Thou  art  standing  in  our  midst  and  our 
eyes  are  holden  that  we  see  thee  not,  lift 
the  darkness  from  about  us,  that  we  may 
behold  thee  in  the  beauty  of  thy  holiness 
and  in  the  holiness  of  thy  beauty  1  Ours 
is  the  Emmaus  way  of  twilight  faith  in 
which  we  walk  sorrowfully  alone;  join 
thyself  to  us,  that  our  hearts  may  bum 
within  us  in  the  way !  We  are  very  poor 
because  the  many  things  which  fill  our 
days  leave  so  little  room  for  the  one 
thing  needful;  help  us  to  clear  our  lives 
of  rubbish  and  fill  them  with  riches  which 
wax  not  old !  Teach  us  that  the  Pearl  of 
Great  Price  is  obtained  by  the  surrender 
of  many  goodly  pearls !  We  have  learned 
much  about  the  world  in  which  we  live, 
but  our  souls  are  ill  at  ease ;  and  now  we 
would  learn  of  thee!  Far  and  long  we 
have  gone  in  search  of  the  knowledge 
which  enriches  the  mind  and  leaves  the 
heart  hungry;  teach  us  more  of  Thee! 


*By   permission   of    The  Fleming    H.  Revell    Publishing 
Company. 

136 


DIVINE  RIGHT  OF  CHURCH 

Thou  art  the  Way ;  show  us  the  way  lest 
we  stumble  and  fall!  Thou  art  the 
Truth;  reveal  thyself  to  us,  lest  in  our 
blindness  we  follow  after  error!  Thou 
art  the  life;  restore  to  us  the  Easter 
gladness  of  thy  Living  Presence !  Thy 
kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done  on  earth 
as  it  is  in  heaven !     Amen ! 


187 


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Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


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